James Deacon was born at home in White, South Dakota. For the first few years of his life, the family moved around a lot to accommodate his father's job as school superintendent. Their summers were spent in a cabin on a lake, where Jim helped his grandparents in their store, seining minnows, clerking, and storing ice. From his eighth grade year through high school graduation, the family lived in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Clinton Wright was borni in Altheimer, Arkansas in 1940. In 1959, after attending the University of Arkansas, Clinton Wright came to Las Vegas. He did various jobs at first and then settled in as a financial planner for A. L. Williams and eventually as a photographer for the Las Vegas Voice, an African American publication. He took photos there for fifteen years, photographing local events and news.