Half Past Autumn: The Life and Work of Gordon Parks

Many people do not recognize the name Gordon Parks as being one of the great American photographers. He was not only a photographer, he was also an author, and a filmmaker. He did all of this in an era where it was nearly impossible for a Black Man to hold a position of prominence. Nevertheless Gordon Parks did just that and is an Ikon of American photography as much as any other. He was a principal photographer for Life magazine in it's heyday and was sought after by the most famous people in the world for his photography. He photographed Ingrid Bergman, Muhammed Ali, Malcolm X, and countless others. His success was partially based on separating himself from the politics of the individual he was photographing. Another interesting fact is that Gordon Parks wrote and directed the movie Shaft and his son Gordon Jr. wrote and directed Superfly. All very successful movies that crossed racial boundaries. The image that is shown was the image that made Gordon famous and landed him a job with Life magazine. He was depicting Black struggle in America and had the school cleaning lady pose with a mop and a broom in front of the flag. The movie of his life is free for viewing on Vimeo and you do not have to be a photographer to enjoy it. It's called "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Work of Gordon Parks."

Always More and Better Information 197/365

Whatever camera you own please at least read your owners manual. You'll be surprised at all of the things that you can do. In some cases people write third party books with even more information that the manual left out. The author of this one Ibarionex Perello. He hosts one of my favorite podcasts about photography called The Candid Frame. Every week he interviews someone significant in the world of photography. I highly recommend it as a good listen.