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I Was There Less Than A Year Before I Was Assigned To The Paris Bureau. I Spent Two Years There And, In Fact, Before I Even Went On The Staff I Was Sent To Europe To Do Assignments Which They Wouldn't Normally Do For A Young Photographer Just Starting Out.

-Gordon Parks

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I Was There Less

Gordon Parks

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I Was There Less Than A Year Before I Was Assigned To The Paris Bureau. I Spent Two Years There And, In Fact, Before I Even Went On The Staff I Was Sent To Europe To Do Assignments Which They Wouldn't Normally Do For A Young Photographer Just Starting Out.

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I Was There Less Than A Year Before I Was Assigned To The Paris Bureau. I Spent Two Years There And, In Fact, Before I Even Went On The Staff I Was Sent To Europe To Do Assignments Which They Wouldn't Normally Do For A Young Photographer Just Starting Out.

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I Was Born To A Black Childhood Of Confusion And Poverty. The Memory Of That Beginning Influences My Work Today, It Is Impossible Now To Photograph A Hungry Child Without Remembering The Hunger Of My Old Childhood.

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At First I Wasn't Sure That I Had The Talent, But I Did Know I Had A Fear Of Failure, And That Fear Compelled Me To Fight Off Anything That Might Abet It.

I Picked Up A Camera Because It Was My Choice Of Weapons Against What I Hated Most About The Universe: Racism, Intolerance, Poverty. I Could Have Just As Easily Picked Up A Knife Or A Gun, Like Many Of My Childhood Friends Did... Most Of Whom Were Murdered Or Put In Prison... But I Chose Not To Go That Way. I Felt That I Could Somehow Subdue These Evils By Doing Something Beautiful That People Recognize Me By, And Thus Make A Whole Different Life For Myself, Which Has Proved To Be So.

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Many Times I Wondered Whether My Achievement Was Worth The Loneliness I Experienced, But Now I Realize The Price Was Small.

I'd Become Sort Of Involved In Things That Were Happening To People. No Matter What Color They Be, Whether They Be Indians, Or Negroes, The Poor White Person Or Anyone Who Was I Thought More Or Less Getting A Bad Shake.

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I Had Known Poverty Firsthand, But There I Learned How To Fight Its Evil - Along With The Evil Of Racism - With A Camera.

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I Saw That The Camera Could Be A Weapon Against Poverty, Against Racism, Against All Sorts Of Social Wrongs. I Knew At That Point I Had To Have A Camera.

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I Suffered First As A Child From Discrimination, Poverty ... So I Think It Was A Natural Follow From That That I Should Use My Camera To Speak For People Who Are Unable To Speak For Themselves.

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But I Was Very Disappointed That I Didn't Get A Chance To Go Overseas With That Group, Might Not Have Gotten Back But I Wanted Very Much To Go Because There's Not Much Of A Record Of The Exploits Of The First Negro Fighter Group.

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The Subject Matter Is So Much More Important Than The Photographer.

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