William Mortensen was born on January 27 1897 and died on August 12, 1965. This past January was his 125th birthday and is being celebrated internationally with exhibitions and other events, including a birthday party at the Heritage Museum of Orange County in Santa Ana California where his final resting place is. It is only in the past decade or so, really since the advent of digital photography and photoshop, that the true genius of Mortensen's art, made in the 1920s and 1930s mainly, has come to be appreciated.