By Klyde Java

When 77-year-old Barbara Ramos was rummaging through her film negatives during the pandemic in 2020, reviewing her vast collection of moments from the late 1960s and early 1970s she realized it gave her the opportunity to do something she had never done before – publish a book.

Released in February, her book, “A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos: San Francisco and California 1969-1973” is a window into the daily life of 20th century America. The photographs in the book were compiled with the help of her husband and fellow photographer, Joe Ramos.

A Richmond District resident, Barbara Ramos was born in New York. When she was six, her family moved to California, settling in Los Angeles. Her artistic instincts developed early as she began painting and drawing at a young age.

As a 20-year-old student at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1968, she discovered photography and was immediately intrigued at how quickly she picked it up. She describes photography as “an innate ability that I didn’t know I had.”

She also attributes her intuitive understanding of photography to her painting and drawing background.

“I knew skills through drawing and painting and looking at the world that way,” she said. “It translated to the photography.”

For Ramos, the act of taking a photo is quite simple. Light passes through the lens, then the photographer uses the camera to translate the light onto film. Mastering this process was easy, but various types of light presented new challenges. San Francisco’s rolling fog is known for its gray neutral look, while the golden sunshine of Southern California from her childhood creates vibrant saturated hues.

“When I came to San Francisco, the light was very different. In L.A., the light is very harsh. It’s very extreme and that was the light I grew up with. That was the light I understood,” she said.

Her images in “A Fearless Eye” show her progress in learning the subdued Bay Area light.

With her Rolleiflex and Leica 35mm cameras, she took photos whenever she could, capturing mundane activities or odd characters. Nostalgic relics of everyday American life, such as patterned suits and beehive hairstyles, are common throughout her images. The subjects range from a curious kid at a department store to women in thick fur coats on Market Street. Her photos have a casual quality – the people depicted in them appear unguarded.

As she went on to complete her master’s degrees in interdisciplinary studies at San Francisco State University, she realized that photography could not sustain her career and promptly quit photography. She became a craftswoman, making custom jewelry. Despite the longtime hiatus, her treasure trove of photographs gave her enough material to make a book.

Since its release, the book has garnered acclaim from the New York Times and Black & White Magazine, in addition to users of all ages on social media.

“I’ve been having a lot of nice responses from young people which really surprised me, because I thought most of the people who would respond to the book would be people who lived through this time period,” she said.

One of the reasons she believes the book is successful is because it demonstrates a sense of societal unity, a rare quality in today’s world.

“A lot of people find solace in the book because they see that people are getting along,” she said.

Although Ramos has spent most of her life away from photography, her images are a reminder of a rich photographic life.

The Richmond District Branch Library, at 351 Ninth Ave., will host Barbara Ramos for an artist interview on Saturday, April 26, at 4 p.m. “A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos” is available through Chronicle Books. For more information, go to chroniclebooks.com.