In 1939, just before graduating from high school in the small town of Ridgeway in northeast Iowa, Everett Kuntz spent his entire savings of $12.50 on a 35mm Argus AF camera. He made a camera case from a worn-out boot, scraps from a tin can, and a clasp from his mother's purse. For the next several years, he clicked the shutter of his trusty Argus all around the quiet town.

People got so used to it that they became relaxed around the camera, and even began to count on him saying, “Where is Everett? We need a picture.” Everett never had the money to print his photographs. More than two thousand negatives stayed in a box while he married, raised a family, and worked as an electrical engineer in the Twin Cities.