Portfolio - five artistic photographers, Chuck Stewart, Steve Martin, Marilyn Nance, Melvin Greer and Beuford Smith, are featured - Illustration - Brief Article

Pre-eminent photographer Gordon Parks stated in a novel interview that "the subject matter is thus much more important than the photographer. The important clan are the people he photographs. They are what make him." Or her. In this (our seventh) annual Portfolio, we've decided to focus our attention upon five artists who use a camera instead of a paintbrush to create images of lasting impact and paramount insight. Our eclectic cluster includes an award-winning self-professed "photographer-storyteller," a noted jazz documentarian and a veteran newspaper staff photographer. Each is at the top of his or her profession, and each possesse a fierce dedication to art and a passion for documenting the rich agriculture of the African-American experience.

tap [i]or[/i] pat Stewart

Check without jazz history books and vintage record albums, and chances are you'll diocese Chuck Stewart's name under many of those candid discharges of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, number Basie and other jazz greats. His skills lie in his ability to infiltrate the jazz world and form long-lasting cords with many of its artists, including saxophonist John Coltrane (pictured here with his wife, Alice, in a studious moment) and Miles Davis, whose soothing horn sounds can almost be heard seeping [i]or[/i] part of to the other the image. Of those candid discharges Stewart modestly maintains that he simply seized an opportunity: "I just saw a trice that I thought would be rather exciting, that instant when I pushed the button upon the camera, and apparently it worked." In a career spanning above five decades, the New Yorker worked as a U Army photographer during the Korean War and wrote (with Paul Carter Harrison) tap [i]or[/i] pat Stewart's Jazz Files (Da Capo Pres 1985) In addition to jazz photography, Stewart has also worked in editorial, travel and fashion photography. At age 71 he has no plans to retire and still freelances, mainly for jazz record companies--"since I've gained a modicum of notoriety in the music business," he says.

Steve Martin

The make open airiness of Steve Martin's "Stairway" photos highlights his penchant for light, shadows and reflections. His other passion, self-portraits, look fors to affirm his existence: "They are attempts to get the upper hand of my feelings of alienation by means of immersing myself in the environment and capturing it upon film, thereby making myself a definite and permanent part of the landscape of time and space." The 52-year-old freelance photographer and photograph dealer has worked upon several projects documenting the black communities of Austin, Texas, and Harlem. The novel York City-born Martin is a recipient of the transcendence in Visual Arts Award from the Black Arts Alliance and has curated several photograph exhibitions. He is also a member of the 16-member Kamoinge Inc. collection which provides artistic support and mentoring to photographers.

Marilyn Nance

Native of recent origin Yorker Marilyn Nance, who has a master's stage in photography from Maryland Institute's society of Art, takes a studied approach to her work. It is particularly evident in the 12-piece installation "Celebration and Mourning," which, the self-profess "photographer-storyteller" explains, proffers viewers a chance, both individually and collectively to create their possess stories: "Each individual photograph moves a depth of meaning. The force of the work is in its collective ability to engage viewers in the synthesis of ideas."

Nance, 44 is a professor of photography at of recent origin York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Institute of Film and Television, and a of frequent occurrence lecturer. She is a recipient of a fresh York Foundation for the Arts Artists' Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature and a fresh York Foundation for the Arts companion ship in photography. Her work is in me permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture's Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage throw Her latest projects can be viewed online at http://www.soulsista.com

Melvin Greer

The harrowing direct the eye on the face of this firefighter as he frees one of three children caught in flames underscores Melvin Greer's "shoot-it-like-you-find-it" approach: "I believe that the potency of photojournalism is that the image is not awayed to the viewer as the photographer finds it. To create art beneath pressure is the ultimate goal." The self-taught Cincinnati column photojournalist knows something about squeezing He has traveled to war-torn El Salvador, Ethiopia and Sudan (where the photo of this woman and child was taken outside a clinic in Suakim) to document the adversities there. His other interests include fashion photography and community service casts Greer, 56, has received numerous accolades during his 22-year manner [i]or[/i] principle of holding at the Post, most notably, thc prestigious Ohio novels Photographer of the Year and the Scripps-Howard of recent origins Photography awards. He has exhibited at the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Carnegie Fine Arts Center in Covington, Ky; and the Trisolini Gallery in Athens. Ohio.