Mostly because when I go out alcohol is involved.
Then my phone gets drunk and I’m looking back at my pictures
like… WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
[I’m sure it’s only a coincidence* that Monica is in both of these pictures when my phone is drunk]
And then I remember: Whiskey. My phone enjoys whiskey.
Also. My subjects are uncooperative. Ahem.
[Hi, Megan!]
Luckily I have a day job.
[No you guys, this isn’t my day job either. Even though y’all be acting like it, this is just an entertaining side gig]
But THIS GUY.
[guessing prolly not a selfie]
This gentleman is Gordon Parks.
Gordon Parks purchased his first camera at the age of 25 after viewing photographs of migrant workers in a magazine.
His early fashion photographs caught the attention of Marva Louis, wife of the boxer Joe Louis, who encouraged Parks to move to a larger city. Parks and his wife relocated to Chicago in 1940.
He became interested in the low-income black neighborhoods of Chicago’s South Side. In 1941, Parks won a photography fellowship with the Farm Security Administration for his images of the inner city. Parks created some of his most enduring photographs during this fellowship, including “American Gothic, Washington, D.C.,” picturing a member of the FSA cleaning crew in front of an American flag.
After the FSA disbanded, Parks continued to take photographs for the Office of War Information and the Standard Oil Photography Project. He also became a freelance photographer for Vogue
Relocating to Harlem, Parks continued to document city images and characters while working in the fashion industry. His 1948 photographic essay on a Harlem gang leader won Parks a position as a staff photographer for LIFE magazine, the nation’s highest-circulation photographic publication.
He became the first African-American photographer for both Life and Vogue magazines.
Parks held this position at Life for 20 years, producing photographs on subjects including fashion, sports and entertainment as well as poverty and racial segregation.
[WOW. IT’S ALMOST LIKE THESE PICTURES COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN YESTERDAY]
He was also took portraits of African-American leaders, including Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and Muhammad Ali.
[I love photos of Muhammad Ali. Really I do]
In 1969, Parks became the first African American to direct a major Hollywood movie, the film adaptation of The Learning Tree. He wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the film.
His next film, Shaft, was one of the biggest box-office hits of 1971, inspiring a genre of films known as Blaxploitation. His attempt to deviate from the Shaft series, with the 1976 Leadbelly, was unsuccessful. Following this failure, Parks continued to make films for television, but did not return to Hollywood.
He would go on to publish a number of books throughout his lifetime, including works of fiction, volumes on photographic technique, several memoirs and retrospectives as well,
including A Choice of Weapons. Which is COMPLETELY different from Weapon of Choice. Go figure.
*coincidence. As in she is probably the reason that my phone can’t even see straight.
Yeah I said it 