The West Baton Rouge Museum in Port Allen will host renowned and celebrated photojournalist Steve Schapiro from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday evening for a book signing and talk.
Schapiro has traveled the world and met and photographed influential Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali among others while working for publications such as LIFE, Time, Rolling Stone and People.
The museum also recently opened Schapiro’s nationally circulating photo exhibition entitled “Heroes: Photographs by Steve Schapiro,” which is a collection of iconic images the photographer captured over the years, said museum director Julie Rose. The exhibition will run until June 9.
“We are absolutely honored to have him come and share his stories with us,” Rose said. “He’ll talk about his career, … his ideas about photojournalism and his motivations and inspirations. Then afterwards, … the River Road Jazz Quartet will be playing and we have wine and cheese. … It will be a really nice gathering and an opportunity to meet Mr. Schapiro.”
Schapiro will be talking about pictures in the exhibition as well as his experiences following certain people as a photojournalist, like former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
“Bobby was an inspiring person,” Schapiro said. “He had the three qualities of leadership: he had the intelligence, he had the real sense of caring and he also knew how to play politics. He also had the advantage of having the Kennedy charisma.”
Schapiro traveled with Kennedy while he toured the country. He noted Kennedy was one of the most important people he ever had the pleasure of knowing and the young politician’s potential for good was great.
Schapiro also was deeply involved with the civil rights movement and photographed Martin Luther King Jr. at speeches and rallies.
“He was an incredible leader and he had this emotional way of talking to people and really invigorating them,” Schapiro said.
When King was assassinated, LIFE Magazine instructed Schapiro to immediately fly to Memphis to document the event, he said.
Though he met so many influential people, Schapiro remains humble about his work and himself.
“I’m just a guy,” he said. “I like to take pictures. I like to do pictures the best I can. I hopefully try to get iconic images. … I try to get at the spirit of a person or an event. And the satisfaction I get is when I feel that I’ve accomplished that.”
“We are absolutely honored to have him come and share his stories with us. He’ll talk about his career…his ideas about photojournalism and his motivations and inspirations.”
