I know many of you were saddened by the news of the death of Gordon Parks.
I meant to get this posted the other day. You will need to subscribe
to NY Times to get the article.... NY Times subscription is well worth
it and FREE.
By ANDY GRUNDBERG
Mr. Parks was the photographer and filmmaker who used his prodigious,
largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American
experience.
"African-American filmmaker Gordon Parks had little chance of cracking
the all-white Hollywood cinematographers' fraternity in the '50s,
despite impeccable credentials as a photojournalist for Life magazine.
Parks' entry into feature-length moviemaking came by way of the 1969
adaptation of his own autobiographical work The Learning Tree, which
related the experience of growing up black in Kansas. Parks sold the
story to Hollywood on the proviso that he be allowed to direct -- thus
making him the first-ever "mainstream" black director"
=================
I hope you photo teachers bring Gordon Parks into your curriculum - he
is one of my heroes.... just look at that face (smile).
