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Shearer to be presented with 'Choice of Weapons Award'
FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Award-winning photographer, author, and creative director John Shearer will be the recipient of the "Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award" at the eighth annual Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity Oct. 7-8 in Fort Scott.
The Gordon Parks Celebration, a component of the Gordon Parks Museum/Center, was created in 2004 by Fort Scott Community College to honor Parks, the noted photographer, writer, musician and filmmaker.
At the culmination of the first year's events, the Choice of Weapons Award was established in Parks' honor to be given annually at the celebration. Named after his autobiography, the award honors a recipient who has excelled in the areas that Parks did and who exemplifies the spirit and strength of character of Parks, a Fort Scott native.
Shearer is a true renaissance man, fashioned in the mold of Gordon Parks, a news release said. Like Parks, Shearer has been a photographer, writer, director, lecturer and professor. Parks was the first African-American staff photographer at LIFE, and Shearer, the second.
At 17, Shearer was one of the youngest staff photographers ever hired by a major publication when LOOK took him on. On Staff with LOOK from 1966-1969, Shearer covered civil rights and the race riots of the '60s. He was hired by LIFE in 1968, where he worked as a staff photographer until the magazine ceased regular weekly publications in 1972.
One of Shearer's most famous photographs was taken on Monday, Nov. 25, 1963, the day of John F. Kennedy's funeral. Shearer caught the moment when Jackie Kennedy leaned over to young John-John Kennedy and whispered something in his ear. John-John looked at his father's coffin and made a crisp salute as the coffin departed.
"It took me awhile to make a good print from the over-exposed negative and as a result my image was not among the first wave of pictures to run. But when it did it became one of the most widely used. The over-exposure gave me a great deal of detail in the dark areas of the picture. Jackie's face was a portrait of stoic grief rendered in a haunting way that captured her sorrow. Luck -- and the fearlessness of youth -- were on my side that day," John Shearer said in the release.
One of Shearer's classic stories for LIFE was his coverage of the first Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier bout, billed as the "Fight of the Century." Among Shearer's most important stories was his coverage of the Attica Prison riots in 1972. He was the only photographer allowed inside the prison during the assault by New York law enforcement authorities, the release said.
Shearer has won 175 national photography awards and more than 150 national magazine design awards. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum. His most recent exhibit was a one-man show at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Conn. He has been founder and president of Image Partners, a custom publishing company, since 1996. The firm specializes in conceptualizing and creating new publications, or redirecting existing magazines; designing media kits and related materials, newsletters and books.
Previous positions include creative director and director of photography for IBM/New York Times Custom Publishing; director of photography for Agenda Magazine; picture editor for the New York Times Magazine Part Two Group; director of photography and design for the Columbia School of Journalism; and Time Inc. , where he worked with the development group that created People magazine. He has authored several books for young adults and was the creator, writer, and producer of the "Billy Jo Jive Series" for Sesame Street.
Shearer will be honored at a tribute dinner on Saturday, Oct. 8. The celebration schedule will soon be available on the center's Web site at www.gordonparkscenter.org. Tickets for Gordon Parks Celebration events will go on sale in mid-September. For more information, contact the center at (620) 223-2700, ext. 515 or visit the Web site.