Gordon Parks: The Renaissance Behind the Lens – If you’ve ever wondered what it means to rise above your circumstances, to carve beauty from hardship, or to tell truth with nothing but a camera in your hands… then today’s episode is one you won’t want to miss. We’re about to spend some time with the story of a man named Gordon Parks — a name that belongs not just to a man, but to a movement.

Gordon Parks was more than a photographer. He was a poet, a filmmaker, a novelist, and a composer. A true Renaissance man in every sense of the word. Born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, he was the youngest of 15 children — born dead, in fact, and brought back to life by a country doctor. Life didn’t make things easy for him, but Gordon Parks never asked for easy. He asked for meaning.

This episode takes you through the life and legacy of Gordon Parks, the man whose lens captured both elegance and injustice. From playing piano in brothels to photographing Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, Parks walked through many worlds — and he made each one his own. His work for LIFE Magazine changed the face of American photojournalism, and his direction of Shaft in 1971 broke new ground in Hollywood.

But Gordon Parks wasn’t interested in fame for its own sake. He used every tool at his disposal — the pen, the piano, the camera, and the moving image — to speak truth, to honor beauty, and to connect with people on the deepest level. He showed us that photography is more than a technical skill. It’s a form of listening.

So settle in. You’re about to hear the remarkable story of Gordon Parks — how he made art out of adversity, how he saw the world, and how the world saw itself through him.

Because once you see life through the eyes of Gordon Parks, you don’t just see different…
You see deeper.

Enjoy.

By Ted Vieira in Film Photography Projects

84 pages, published 3/3/2020

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