“There's
another horizon out there, one more horizon that you have to make for yourself
and let other people discover it, and someone else will take it further on, you
know.” – Gordon Parks
Born
on this date in a small Kansas community, Parks was drawn to photography after
seeing a series of heart-rending images featuring Dust Bowl migrant workers. At the age of 25 he bought his first camera
for $12.50 and embarked on a career that would last for the next 70 years
(until his death in 2006).
His
first big break came when he did fashion shots for a women’s clothing store in
St. Paul, MN. One of the people who saw
and admired his work was Marva Louis, wife of heavyweight champion Joe
Louis. She encouraged him to move to
Chicago and open a portrait studio there.
He earned renown for his photographs of society women, but on the side
he took an extensive and award-winning collection of photos portraying “life on
the streets” and life experiences of African Americans.
A
1948 photographic essay on a young gang leader won Parks a staff job as a
photographer and writer with Life magazine. He worked there 20 years as both a
photographer and writer on subjects ranging from fashion, sports and Broadway
to poverty and racial segregation. His portraits of Malcolm X, Stokely
Carmichael, Muhammad Ali and Barbra Streisand cemented his reputation as
"one of the most provocative and celebrated photojournalists in the United
States."
Gordon Parks and two of his award-winning
photos
The
multi-talented Parks also was a novelist, poet and screenwriter and then
branched into film production before becoming the first major Black director in
the late 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. But,
photography was always his first love and topics for his camera were as
varied as his tastes.
“The subject matter,” he said
modestly, “is what matters, and is so much more important than the
photographer.”
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