Residence and travel in Europe from 1969 on enabled him to amass an extensive collection of documentary photos of the life and times of the people of Europe, resulting in a retrospective exhibition, "Fifty Years Behind the Lens" which included prize-winning prints previously exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution and the Pentagon. A pictorial book captioned in five languages, Carmel by Itself - Portrait of a Unique American Community by John Livingstone was published in 1982. Livingstone is presently completing a manuscript for a book entitled Katyusha and Grisha, the Liaison of Catherine the Great and Potemkin.