Robin Rayne Nelson asks, “What’s Your Passion?”

by Stanley LearyPhotography

Robin Rayne Nelson spoke to two of my intro to photojournalism classes today.  I love my job. As a photojournalist, I met and photographed some of the most exciting people.

Teaching photojournalism gives me an excuse to invite some of my heroes of photojournalism to speak to the class.

This is one of the photojournalism books I have had for years. Robin is one of the photographers whose work is part of the Black Star Picture Agency. Robin was on staff with them for years.

Black Star, also known as Black Star Publishing Company, was started by refugees from Germany who had established photographic agencies there in the 1920s. Today it is a New York City-based photographic agency with offices in London and White Plains, New York. It is known worldwide for photojournalism, corporate assignment photography, and stock photography services. It is noted for its contribution to the history of photojournalism in the United States. It was the first privately owned picture agency in the United States and introduced numerous new techniques in photography and illustrated journalism. The agency was closely identified with Henry Luce’s magazine Life and Time.

Black Star was formed in December 1935. The three founders were Kurt Safranski, Ernest Mayer, and Kurt Kornfeld. In 1964, the company was sold to Howard Chapnick. The three founders, Safranski, Mayer, and Kornfeld, were German Jews who fled Berlin during the Nazi regime.

Black Star photographers include Robert Capa, Andreas Feininger, Germaine Krull, Philippe Halsman, Martin Munkácsi, Kurt Severin, W. Eugene Smith, Marion Post-Wolcott, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Charles Moore, James Nachtwey, Lee Lockwood, Mario Giacomelli, and Spider Martin.

Robin took photos of the Klu Klux Klan in 1985, published in the book.

We showed a short documentary Robin produced and then took just 6 of Robin’s photos for the class to see and discuss the back story of each of the images.

Here are Robin’s photos we talked about:

A young girl in Atlanta, GA, with Down Syndrome in an inclusive class with non-challenged children still receives all the one-on-one attention she needs from special education teachers. Model Released. [NIKON D3S, 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 200, ƒ/7.1, 1/160]
SARAH ALLEN is both a single mother and full-time — though untrained –nurse to her son Aidan, born with cerebral palsy and complex medical issues. State Medicaid regulations severely limit the hours her medically fragile son can have in-home nursing care, regardless of his doctor’s orders for medical necessity. Aidan needs 24-7 care and constant tube feeding. Sarah may soon be homeless because the house she lives in will be sold, and she has limited resources to find another home suitable for a severely disabled child. Her story illustrates several serious shortfalls within the Medicaid and Social Security Disability systems. PICTURED: Sarah cleans her son from a diaper change. [NIKON D4, 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/80]
 
Ben and Sam Schwenker, now eight years old, were both diagnosed with autism when they were 18 months old. “Raising them is a daily challenge. We were unprepared, but we learn more daily,” says Jennifer, the boys’ mother.
Autism spectrum disorders cut across all lines of race, class, and ethnicity. Autism impacts millions of children, adults, and their families worldwide. Boys have a significantly higher incidence of autism than girls: four out of every five people with autism are male. Because of the genetic link, siblings of a child with autism have a greater chance of being diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorders affect not only the person diagnosed with the disease but also significantly impact the entire family with various social, financial, and other practical demands.
PICTURED: Now eight years old, Sam (in yellow) and Ben still spend much of their day after school and weekends on their trampoline. They are still non-verbal but understand some of what they hear. [NIKON D700, 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 250, ƒ/8, 1/80]
Erika Jones, 32, is on the slow path to recovery from a brain tumor that left her paralyzed and unable to speak more than a few words. Her mother, Joyce Jones, insisted she is moved back into her family’s home rather than a nursing facility. “I am committed to caring for my baby until the day I die,” Joyce explained. “She wouldn’t get that love in a nursing home.”
Pictured: Erika displays her attempt to write her name [NIKON D4, 17.0-35.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 1000, f/7.1, 1/125]
ZIYA YEWDALL loves pink, My Little Pony toys and clothes, Barbie dolls, sparkly headbands, and dresses like untold thousands of six-year-old girls across the country. Except that Ziya was assigned male and birth and considered himself a boy, but maybe a girl, too. “Ziya is gender-fluid,” explains Faith Yewdall, Ziya’s open-minded mother. Faith and Ziya’s dad Eli support and affirm their child’s gender identity and expression, which might be more boyish one day and more feminine the next. “Ziya is a mix of both genders, falling somewhere in the middle,” Faith explains.
Pictured: Ziya, wearing cherished Batman pajamas, outside the family’s home. [NIKON D4, 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 250, ƒ/6.3, 1/100]
Ki Minda sits at the kitchen counter at sunrise in his daughter’s home, unsure what he’s waiting for. For most of his life, he was a gregarious, extroverted, and successful business executive, but his cognitive functioning has steadily diminished due to vascular dementia. [NIKON D750, 17.0-35.0 mm f/2.8, ISO 1250, f/5, 1/40]

We didn’t have any of the captions when we showed them to the class. I asked the class to tell me what they thought the story was for each photo. Robin was surprised at how well they read the images visually.

After a couple of minutes, Robin told us the photo’s story and back story.

Students were able to ask Robin questions.

One great quote Robin said to both classes and worth leaving here is about finding your passion.

We are known by the company we keep and the passions we pursue.

The biggest question Robin asked was, “What is your WHY?”