Photography has a long, complicated history of documenting the underprivileged, but rarely, if ever, do we see the privileged in the same unvarnished light. For the past 50 years, while pursuing careers in oil and gas, hunting and ranching, Will Vogt has been photographing his social circle. His images of family and friends — mainly shot in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, his ranch in South Texas, and the places he frequents such as hunting estates in the UK — offer a raw glimpse into an American upper class that is inaccessible to most and remarkably unchanged by contemporary society. These Americans — edited by photographers Jennifer Garza-Cuen and Jordan Baumgarten — is an intimate depiction of one man’s life and a revealing portrait of American elites from 1969 to 1996.

Photographer Will Vogt was raised in Haverford, PA. The oldest of three sons, he was less interested in sports than the children he knew, and gravitated instead toward literature, music and art. He describes his childhood as relatively normal for the late 1950’s – 60’s. That is, until three days after his 16th birthday, when he saw Jimi Hendrix live for the first time...

With the publication of Bright Lights, Big City (Random House, 1984) Jay McInerney became a literary sensation, heralded as the voice of a generation. This remarkable novel chronicled the lives of wealthy New York hedonists and continues to be one of the most beloved, imitated and iconic novels in America and abroad. McInerney remains true to this theme in much of his later work.