Born 1924, Menlo Park, California
Lives in Bethlehem, Connecticut

Vestal studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1941–44). He then moved to New York, where he met Sid Grossman and became interested in photography. He joined the Photo League in 1947. He wrote for the League's newsletter Photo Notes, served as exhibition committee chair (1949), and participated in the group exhibition "This Is the Photo League" (1948–49). He continued to study with Grossman after the Photo League disbanded and helped to edit his posthumously published book, Journey to the Cape (1959). Vestal worked in Ralph Steiner's advertising studio as an assistant (1956–58). He had two solo exhibitions in New York galleries (1954, 1955); his work has been exhibited in numerous shows in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil since then. During the 1980s and 1990s, Vestal taught at the Parsons School of Design and the New School for Social Research, and at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn (1986-2001). He has published two books: The Craft of Photography (1975) and The Art of Black and White Enlarging (1984). He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships (1966, 1973) and a Fulbright to Brazil (1997).