Steve Schapiro
Legendary photographer Steve Schapiro died of pancreatic cancer at home at the age of 87. Shapiro is known for capturing key moments in the 1960s during the American civil rights movement.
He also produced promotional materials for classic films such as The Godfather and Taxi Driver.
Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. was photographed by Steve Shapiro during the Selma to Montgomery parade in 1965.
Born in 1934, Steve picked up the Kodak 127 format film camera for the first time at the age of 9 and immediately began shooting images of his birthplace, New York City.
Steve Shapiro discovered photography at summer camp when he was nine years old. Inspired by the camera's potential, Shapiro wandered the streets of his hometown of New York City for decades, trying to imitate the work of French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, whom he admired. He received his first formal education in photography while studying under the guidance of photojournalist W. Eugene Smith. Smith's influence on Shapiro was profound. He taught him the technical skills needed to become a successful photographer and also taught him personal perspectives and worldviews.
He filmed the Washington Parade and the Selma March to Montgomery. His photographs touched people at key moments.
James Baldwin, photographed by Steve Shapiro in 1963.
Shapiro's first major breakthrough came by convincing Catholic magazine Jubilee to publish pictures and stories about the plight of migrant workers in Arkansas. He wasn't compensated, but The New York Times magazine had one of the images on its cover.
Shapiro's lifelong interest in social documentaries, and his consistently empathetic depictions of his subjects, is a product of the time he spent with Smith and the development of his humanistic care for photography.
Living with and mentoring another legendary photojournalist, Eugene W. Smith, inspired him to create images that were published in major publications such as Time, Newsweek, Life, Rolling Stone, People, and Vanity Fair.
He has photographed many important civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He photographed the March in Washington in 1963, photographs of King and his assassination, and Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968.
Martin Scorsese behind Robert De Niro's Taxi, "Taxi Driver," New York, 1975
"I learned from him (Smith) a sense of humanity and trading techniques, such as if a picture has two points of interest, it usually works best. So it's not just a portrait of someone, but something else you see that really shows you more about them or something that interests you, so your eyes move back and forth between the two. It becomes a more satisfying experience and you can stay longer on the photos,"
In the 1970s, Shapiro moved to the entertainment industry. He shot stills, posters and advertising materials for classic films such as Midnight Cowboy, Adventure Business, The Godfather and Taxi Driver. He also dabbled in music, shooting album covers for stars such as Barbara Streisand and David Bowie.
Books including "America's Edge" and "Heroes of Shapiro" feature the many celebrities photographers have had the opportunity to capture, including Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ray Charles, and Truman Capote.
Jacqueline Kennedy, filmed by Steve Shapiro in 1963.
The Metropolitan Museum's pre-1969 exhibition "Harlem in My Heart" showcased his work, and before 2017 he received the Achievement Award for Photojournalism.
From 1961, Shapiro worked as a freelance photojournalist. His photographs have appeared on the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world, including Life, Looks, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, People and The Paris Race.
Robert Redford and Lauren Hutton, shot by Steve Schapiro in 1970.
During the decade known in the United States in the 1960s as the "Golden Age of Photojournalism," Shapiro created a variety of photographic articles on topics including drug addition, Harlem's Easter, the Apollo Theater, Hett Ashbury, political protests, Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, the poodle, and the president.
Barbara Streisand, Steve Shapiro filmed in 1967.
Produced in 1961 for the Jubilee, a particularly moving story about the lives of immigrant workers in Arkansas, featured in New York Times magazine, both novels introduced readers to the difficult living conditions of migrant workers and brought about tangible changes in the installation of electricity in their camps.
In 1968, within hours of the assassination of Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, Steve Shapiro walked into a room—not the Lorraine Motel room where King had been staying, but in the sub-rental room opposite. On the street, James Earl Ray fired a deadly bullet from there.
As photographers flocked to the Lorraine Motel in hopes of depicting the civil rights leader's final moments, Shapiro had a different idea: to capture the barren bathtub where Ray took his life and the handprints he left on the wall.
Soon after, Shapiro went into the king's room and took empty photographs: an empty milk carton, an open suitcase containing the king's sermon, The Power of Love, and the space where the man was supposed to be standing was empty.
"[King]'s only presence is on the TV screen, and from that moment on, his only presence will be in the air and spread through pictures,"
"He shot scenes that other photographers didn't see. This requires very keen intuition. He only knows what elements he must include to make his photographs stand out. ”
Demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, photographed by Steve Schapiro in 1965.
As an activist and documentary writer, Shapiro has covered many stories related to the civil rights movement, including the Washington Employment and Freedom March, the push for voter registration, and the Selma to Montgomery March.
The 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, filmed by Steve Shapiro.
In the 1970s, with the collapse of picture magazines such as Life, Shapiro turned his attention to film. For clients with major film companies, Shapiro produced advertising materials, promotional stills and posters for films, including The Godfather, Our Way, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Rambo, Adventure Business and Billy Madison. He has also worked with musicians such as Barbara Streisand and David Bowie on record covers and related artwork.
Muhammad Ali, photographed by Steve Shapiro in 1963.
Shapiro's photographs have been widely reprinted in magazines and books on American cultural history, civil rights, and film from the 1960s onwards.
Monographs on Shapiro's work include The Edge of America (2000); this book tells the spirit of america's turbulent decade of the 1960s and Shapiro's heroes (2007), providing detailed descriptions of ten iconic figures: Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Martin Luther King, King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, Ray Charles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, Barbara Strysan, and Truman Capote.
Shapiro's hero is the winner of the Art Directors Club Cube Award.
Taschen released The Godfather Family Album: Pictures of Steve Shapiro in 2008, followed by Taxi Driver (2010), both initially limited editions. This was followed by Then and Now (2012), Bliss, The Changing Hippie Generation (2015), Bowie (2016), Messikodia (20126), an amazing facility for people with development issues, and the Next Fire about Muhammad Ali and Taschen in 2017 Time) books, including james Baldwin's text and Schapiro's 1963.
Since the Metropolitan Museum of Art's seminal exhibition Harlem on My Mind in 1969, Shapiro's photographs have appeared in museum and gallery exhibitions around the world. The Freedom Trail at the Higher Museum of Art is widely circulated in the United States and includes numerous photographs he took during the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. Recent solo exhibitions have taken place in Los Angeles, London, Santa Fe, Amsterdam and Paris. And Berlin. Steve has held major museum retrospectives in the United States, Spain, Russia and Germany.
Shapiro continues to work in a documentary manner. His most recent series of photographs are about India, music festivals and black life.
"He made the kind of images that remind you to think, whether it's a moment in history or an influential figure. He only knows how to penetrate their souls and make photos that best show their personalities. ”
Shapiro's work is reflected in many private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Museum, the Museum of Higher Art, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and the Getty Museum. He has just received the James Joyce Award and the University College Dublin Scholarship, with previous winners including Bishop Tutu, Jesse Jackson and J.K. Rowling.
David Bowie, Steve Shapiro in 1975.
"I try to be a fly on the wall as much as I can," Shapiro told the Los Angeles Times in 2013. "For me, emotion is the most powerful quality in a photo."
He was a great photographer. But other than that, he was always lovely. Huge energy. Love life. Loves to stay out there and be creative in this world. ”
In the end, even after being diagnosed with period IV pancreatic cancer in June 2021, Shapiro recorded the world around him through his camera. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when he fell ill and quarantined at his home in Chicago, Shapiro took a series of photos of people swimming in Lake Michigan below from the windows of his apartment.
The last photograph Schmidt and Oldman received from Shapiro's wife was of the photographer lying sick in bed with a camera in his hand.
"Even when he was sick, at home and in bed, he still took the camera and clicked," Schmidt said. "No matter where he is, what he's doing, who he's talking to — that camera is always on the go."
Awards
James Joyce Award and Scholarship - University College Dublin
Photojournalist of the Year – Lucy Award, New York, 2017
END
Text: The uncle who carved time
Image: Steve Schapiro
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