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… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
So I went to Chicago in 1940, I think, '41, and the photographs that I made there, aside from fashion, were things that I was trying to express in a social conscious way. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
The camera could be a very powerful instrument against discrimination, against poverty, against racism. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
I bought my first camera in Seattle, Washington. Only paid about seven dollars and fifty cents for it. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
But I do feel a little teeny right now that I'm just about ready to start, and winter is entering. Half past autumn has… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
I was born to a black childhood of confusion and poverty. The memory of that beginning influences my work today, It is impossible now… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
I had known poverty firsthand, but there I learned how to fight its evil - along with the evil of racism - with a… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
Many times I wondered whether my achievement was worth the loneliness I experienced, but now I realize the price was small. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
I do find a certain fascination with the unpredictable. The transitory years we wade through are what they are- what we make of them. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
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… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
The man at Kodak told me the shots were very good and if I kept it up, they would give me an exhibition. Later,… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
Nothing came easy. I was just born with a need to explore every part of my mind. And with long searching and hard work,… — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
Washington, D.C. in 1942 was not the easiest place in the world for a Negro to get along. — Gordon Parks Copy Share Image
