marvinjwolf

Unless you're quite old, or if you have worked as a photojournalist, the name Gordon Parks, Sr., probably won't mean much to you. But if you are an American, and especially an American of color, his work is something you will be glad to know about.

I met him just once when I was a very junior Public Information Officer at Fort Benning in 1967. I was escorting a couple of guys from National Geographic and we had lunch at the Officer's Club. Seemingly out of nowhere, Parks appeared and was invited to join us. I knew who he was, of course, because my road to a commission and a job as an Army Information officer had begun with nearly a year as a combat photographer with the justly famed First Cavalry (Airmobile), and this had brought me into contact with a who's who of the world's finest photojournalists.

Even before that, I spent half a year of evenings in libraries looking at back issues of America's best photo magazines--National Geographic, LIFE, Look, and Pageant.

The most important thing I recall from this chance meeting was that Parks had decided that print photojournalism was walking dead. He had enrolled in film school, and it was his intention to make movies. Which it was and which he did. And more's the pity that weekly magazines like LIFE and LOOK and PAGEANT no longer publish.

Anyhoo, here's a little peek at Gordon Parks and his work:

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TDbMKyjMS7IwYPSSS88vSsnPUyhILMouVijJSFXIzCvLLM5MyklVyE3MAwBvEBAv&q=gordon%20parks%20the%20invisible%20man&oq=Gordon%20parks%20the%20inv&aqs=chrome.1.0i355i512j46i512j69i57j0i22i30l2j69i60l3.11268j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&fbclid=IwAR1uUqZ4MorAcKSrsuyp0tmxNGTSkfNYsKh2X3JJDZq_2PV1_REq7o3waok

And, more generally:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Parks?fbclid=IwAR2hCoayj9SnheQaIJaakpMAB18tMwYpLHvnEFZklHqOsCHJhhwo7Zy8JcA


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Parks?fbclid=IwAR0cTFneJSfoCJCn0N2K6kBpnQUCszNfHVJy7wcAwF54WNkPnF3IpUrI4AY

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

I guess I'm pretty old then, as I knew of Parks as a teen, say about 1954-1960. In those days, I could read the standard photo magazines (U.S. Camera, Popular Photography, & Modern Photography) from my dad's pharmacy (he could return them to the distributor, only paying for what was sold), and Parks' work was featured periodically in one or the other. Like so many I guess, I was particularly taken with American Gothic, the image I always think of when I think of him.

marvinjwolf

We seem to be about the same age. I was born in 1941, a few months before Pearl Harbor.

robertcbyrd Loc: 28754

Thank you.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I am old and the name Gordon Parks means a lot to me. I never met him but while taking photography classes over 20 years ago at The Arts Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I met one of the instructors who was one of his friends and admirer. That particular instructor taught me what I actually know about film b&w photography.

I remember Mr. Parks visit to the fabelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil areas infected with disease and poverty. He was on assignment for Life Magazine. In the fabelas he met a young man called Flavio Da Silva. The boy had pulmorary tuberculosis and with the help of Life he brought the boy to be cured of his disease to this USA. Flavio spent a few years in this country and then went back to Brazil loosing contact with Mr. Parks. It was a few years later, around 1984 that they met again and by this time Mr. Parks was at the end of his life. He made a few pictures of Flavio with his Nikon F and 180 mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. Shortly after that he died.

I could be wrong but I believe Mr. Park was the first Afro American to work for Life.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

In September 2019, the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth did a marvelous retrospective of Gordon Parks' early works. He was a truly gifted artist with wide ranging skill and a unique perspective.

Terkat

Good morning Marv,

I first became aware of Mr. Parks and his works sometime in the late 60's (I am currently 72 years old) when civil rights were an absolute firestorm. I followed him for many years and this was very likely, in part, responsible for my love of photography.

Thanks,

Terry

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

As an avid young photographer who was turning teen in 1952 in the panhandle of Connecticut (20 miles from Times Square) the name and fame of Gordon Parks were well known to me. Clearly, a man of ironic status to young photographers such as I in the New York suburbs! When I was old enough to get a ticket to NYC on the NY,NH, And Hartford RR ( the “New Haven RR”) my first stop was 125th St. (the beating Heart of Harlem) where I would wander with my Exakta as a budding street photographer. I wish I could say I ran into Gordon Parks on one of those forays, but no such luck. He was, indeed, a role model for youth aspiring to make their way in photography!
Thanks for starting this thread!
Dave

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Gordon Parks was one of the subjects of a monthly series in the For Your Consideration section (LINK).

KarenKaptures Loc: New Jersey

Gordon Parks and my brother were friends. My brother invited Mr. Parks to an event that he was having in Trenton New Jersey in the 80’s. Although I had heard his name mentioned by my brother I had no idea at the time who he was or what he did. I had a point and shoot camera and he stood in front of me so I took this photo.

robertcbyrd Loc: 28754

Awesome!

Nicholas J DeSciose

Thank you for this

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Never heard of him so I must be young.

wmcy Loc: Charlotte

Great capture of history and of a talented artist. Well done.

DaveD65 Loc: Queen City, Ohio

I too was an Army public information officer in 1971. I was assigned to the Defense Information School (DINFOS) at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. It was a very intense 12-week course in military communications. We learned radio and TV the first 4 weeks; the people with "on air" backgrounds stayed with that subject. Perhaps you knew Eric Kronaure the main character in the movie "Good Morning Viet Nam. He attended Dinfos about that same time; late 60's. The rest of us then spent the next 8 weeks learning photojournalism. I had a BA in Journalism from OSU upon enlisting into the Army. I remember the name Grodon Parks came many times using his work as examples. His picture was hung on a wall in our darkroom classroom. I think that I really learned more about researching a story and combining pictures than I did at college. I was assigned to the US Army Recruiting Station as an information officer, back my home state of Ohio. I spent the remainder of my enlistment there, it was a great job. I thought about re-enlisting, but was told I'd probably go over-seas for a new assignment, so I got out .