{{short description|American photographer born 1946}} {{about|the American photographer|the American singer|Eli "Paperboy" Reed}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} '''Ellis (Eli) Reed''' (born 1946) is an American photographer and photojournalist.<ref name="dj">{{cite journal|last=Halstead|first=Dirck|title=Living in the Now - Photographs by Eli Reed|journal=The Digital Journalist|year=2000|url=http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0007/erintro.htm|accessdate=July 9, 2010}}</ref><ref name="uta know">{{cite journal|last=Rail|first=Dutch|author2=inContext.tv|title=Photographer Eli Reed discusses being black in America|journal=KNOW|date=February 11, 2010|series=University of Texas, Austin|url=http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/02/11/eli_reed-discussion/|accessdate=July 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905205955/http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/02/11/eli_reed-discussion/|archive-date=September 5, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Reed was the first full-time black photographer at Magnum Agency and is the author of several books, including ''Beirut: City of Regrets'' and ''Black In America''.
==Early life and education== Reed was raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.<ref name=dj /> He took his first photograph at the age of 10, documenting his mother by the Christmas tree.<ref name=rvw /> He earned a degree in illustration in 1969 from the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art,<ref name="magnum">{{cite web|website=Magnum Photos|title=Eli Reed|url=https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/eli-reed/ |access-date=November 5, 2024}}</ref> but attributes his direction as a photographer to mentor Donald Greenhaus rather than to formal studies.<ref name="interview">{{cite web|last=Bourne|first=Scott|title=Interview With Eli Reed|url=http://photofocus.com/2009/10/04/interview-with-eli-reed/|work=PhotoFocus Magazine|accessdate=July 9, 2010|date=October 4, 2009|quote=I am self taught but I had a wonderful mentor, Donald Greenhaus, who pointed me in the right direction I should go in. I believe that the more formal education you can receive, the better it will be for you if you have good teachers.}}</ref> In 1982–83 he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, studying political science and urban affairs at the Kennedy School of Government.<ref name="magnum" /><ref name=Smithsonian>{{cite magazine |first=Molly |last=Roberts |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/photography-book-eli-reed-favorite-images-african-american-180955469/ |title=Photojournalist Eli Reed Shares Some of His Favorite Images From His 40-Year Career |magazine=Smithsonian |type=interview |date=June 1, 2015 |access-date=November 5, 2024 }}</ref>
==Career== Reed became a freelance photographer in 1970.<ref name="magnum" /> After photographing military conflict in Central America, he joined Magnum Photos, becoming its first full-time black member.<ref name="rvw">{{cite web|title=Review: "Eli Reed, Black in America"|url=http://www.fototv.com/eli_reed|work='"Black in America"', a succession of photographs documenting the broader picture of black life in America|publisher=Foto TV|accessdate=July 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621013817/http://www.fototv.com/eli_reed|archive-date=June 21, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Smithsonian/> While working for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', he was a runner-up for the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documentation of life in a public housing project.<ref name=Smithsonian/><ref name="ppc">{{cite web|publisher=Pulitzer Prize Committee|work=Feature Photography|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Feature-Photography|title=1982 Ellis C. Reed of San Francisco Examiner. For photos of life in a public housing project|accessdate=July 9, 2010}}</ref>
While a Nieman Fellow, he made his first journey to Beirut to photograph the Lebanese Civil War; he returned there several times and was once mistaken for a militant and kidnapped. In 1988 he published ''Beirut: City of Regrets''.<ref name=Smithsonian/> He also covered the 1986 Haiti coup against "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the 1989 US military action in Panama, and unrest in Zaire in 1992,<ref name=utbio /> as well as the Million Man March and African-American life in the US.<ref name=Smithsonian/> His book ''Black in America'', which also includes poetry by Reed, was published in 1997; several photographs from that project have been recognized in juried shows and exhibitions.<ref name="rvw"/><ref name="utbio">{{cite web |publisher=School of Journalism, University of Texas, Austin |title=Ellis Reed, Clinical Professor |url=http://journalism.utexas.edu/faculty/elireed.html |accessdate=July 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624005420/http://journalism.utexas.edu/faculty/elireed.html |archivedate=June 24, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=O'Neill|first=Claire|title=Photographer Eli Reed On Being Black In America|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/01/photographer_eli_reed_on_being.html|work=The Picture Show|publisher=NPR|accessdate=July 9, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Sean |last=O'Hagan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/nov/03/history-of-the-united-states-in-nine-photographs-magnum-america |title='A vivid distillation of a deeply fractured country': a history of the United States in nine photographs |work=The Guardian |date=November 3, 2024 }}</ref>
Reed has also worked as a still photographer for the film industry, and is a member of the Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers.<ref name="utbio" />
In January 2005 Reed became the clinical professor of photojournalism at The University of Texas at Austin.<ref name="utbio" /> He has also taught at the Maine Photographic Workshop; the Wilson Hicks Symposium, Miami University; the Southeastern Museum of Photography, Daytona, Florida; the Smithsonian Institution; San Francisco State University; Harvard University; Boston Institute of Art; the Academy of Fine Art, San Francisco; Columbia University; Empire State College, New York; New York University; and the International Center of Photography, New York; as well as an annual photojournalism workshop for the United States Department of Defense.<ref name=utbio />
Reed mainly uses the Olympus E-3, E-30, and EP-1 for his work.<ref name=interview /> He is a Sony Global Imaging Ambassador.<ref name=interview /> In October 2015, Reed was invited to speak at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as part of their "Visually Speaking" series. In January 2016, he was a keynote speaker at ''National Geographic Magazine''{{'}}s Photography Seminar in Washington, D.C.
Reed's work was included in the 2025 exhibition ''Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985'' at the National Gallery of Art. <ref name="Brookman">{{cite book |last1=Brookman |first1=Philip |last2=Willis |first2=Deborah |title=Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985 |date=2025 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven London |isbn=9780300283501 |page=261}}</ref>
==Awards== *1992 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Documentary Photography *1992 Kodak World Image Award for Fine Art Photography *1988 World Press Photo award<ref name=interview/> *1988 Leica Medal of Excellence *1983 Overseas Press Club Award<ref name=interview/> *1982 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard *1981 Mark Twain Associated Press Award *1981 Pulitzer Prize, runner-up<ref name="ppc" /> *2011 Lucie Foundation Award for Documentary Photography
==Exhibitions== <ref name="magnum" /><ref name=utbio /> *1973, The Black Photographer, Syracuse University *1973, New Jersey Photographs *1975, New Jersey Prisons, Newark Museum of Art *1975, The Whole Sick Crew, Newark-Rutgers University *1993, Visa pour l'image, Perpignan, France *1996, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut (first major solo exhibition by a living artist)<ref name="utbio"/> *1997, Leica Gallery, New York *1997, Magnum World exhibition and catalogue *1999, Black New York Photographers of the 20th Century Exhibition, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture *2000, Indivisible *2000, Reflections in Black, and A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present, Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D. C. *2014, Eli Reed Retrospective, A Long Walk Home, Leica Gallery, New York *2014, 2015, Visa pour l'image Festival Du Photoreportage, Perpignan, France
==Publications== * John Singleton, ''Poetic Justice: Film Making South Central Style''. United States: Delta, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-385-30914-1}} * Tom Rankin, ''Local Heroes Changing America'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-393-05028-8}} *''Homeless in America'', 1987. *''Black in America'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-393-03995-5}} *''Beirut: City of Regrets'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-393-30507-4}} *''A Long Walk Home'', Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0292748576}}
==Films== <ref name="magnum" /> ===Production=== *1988 ''America's Children: Poorest in the Land of Plenty'', photo essay for NBC. *1992 ''Getting Out'', director, produced for Tokyo TV, shown at the New York Film Festival
===Specials/stills=== *1991 ''The Five Heartbeats'', stills, directed by Robert Townsend *1992 ''Poetic Justice'', stills, directed by John Singleton *1994 ''Higher Learning'', stills, directed by John Singleton *1995 ''Kansas City'', stills and specials, directed by Robert Altman *1996 ''Rosewood'', stills, directed by John Singleton *1996 ''Ghost of Mississippi'', specials, directed by Rob Reiner *1996 ''Day of the Jackal'', stills and specials, directed by Michael Caton-Jones *1998 ''One True Thing'', still photographer, directed by Carl Franklin *2000 ''Shaft'', still photographer, directed by John Singleton *2001 ''Baby Boy'', still photographer, directed by John Singleton *2001 ''A Beautiful Mind'', still photographer, directed by Ron Howard *2002 ''8 Mile'', still photographer, directed by Curtis Hanson *2002 ''Two Weeks Notice'', still photographer, directed by Marc Lawrence *2003 ''2 Fast 2 Furious'', still photographer, directed by John Singleton *2005 ''Stay'', still photographer, directed by Marc Forster *2014 ''One Hundred Years of Freedom'', video and still photographer, directed by Daniel Ostroff *2017 ''Natasha'', still photographer, directed by David Bezmozgis
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Eli}} Category:American photojournalists Category:Living people Category:African-American photographers Category:African-American journalists Category:Artists from Middlesex County, New Jersey Category:Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art alumni Category:People from Perth Amboy, New Jersey Category:Photography in Lebanon Category:1946 births Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American people