James Karales

{{Infobox person | name = James H. Karales | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|07|15}} | birth_place = Canton, Ohio | death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|04|01|1930|07|15}} | death_place = Croton-on-Hudson, New York | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = photographer, photo-essayist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = {{ubl|''The Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, 1965.''|''Dr. King and his daughter Yolanda. Atlanta, 1962.''}} | spouse = Monica | children = 4 }}

'''James H. Karales''' (July 15, 1930, Canton, Ohio – April 1, 2002, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.) was an American photographer and photo-essayist best known for his work with ''Look'' magazine from 1960 to 1971. At ''Look'' he covered the Civil Rights Movement throughout its duration, taking many of the movements memorable photographs, including those of the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family.<ref name=PaC-130113>{{cite news |url=https://www.postandcourier.com/features/arts_and_travel/witness-to-history-iconic-images-by-karales-of-civil-rights-movement-exhibited-at-gibbes-museum/article_c3b904cc-3d90-5871-9ae8-40e6d0af6797.html |title=Witness to History, The Photographs of James Karales |author=Parker, Adam |newspaper=Charleston Post and Courier |date=January 13, 2013 |access-date=24 February 2017}}</ref> Karales's single best known image is the iconic photograph of the Selma to Montgomery march showing people proudly marching along the highway under a cloudy turbulent sky.<ref name=NYT-020405>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/arts/james-karales-photographer-of-social-upheaval-dies-at-71.html |title=James Karales, Photographer of social upheaval, dies at 71 |author=Loke, Margarett |newspaper=New York Times |date=April 5, 2002 |accessdate=24 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=Karales65>{{cite web |url=http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/james-karales?view=slider#11 |title=Selma to Montgomery March, Alabama, 1965 |author=Karales, James |date=March 1965 |publisher=Howard Greenberg Gallery |accessdate=24 February 2017}}</ref>

==Career== Karales was born in Ohio to a family of Greek immigrants. Although he initially enrolled in Ohio University with the intention of majoring in electrical engineering, Karales switched his major to photography after watching his roommate in the darkroom.<ref name=NYT-020405 /> He graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1955, departing Ohio for New York City.<ref name=NYT-020405 /> He eventually found work as a darkroom assistant for photo-essay photographer W. Eugene Smith at the Magnum photo agency,<ref name=NYT-020405 /> initially on a two-week assignment making prints for Smith's Pittsburgh essay.<ref name=LAT-020408 /> He would go on to work for Smith for two years, making more than 7,000 prints and developing expertise both in the darkroom and as a photo-essayist.<ref name=NYT-020405 /><ref name=LAT-020408 />

After leaving Magnum, Karales produced his own photo essays, including works showing what life was like for the working citizens of Rendville, Ohio, a former stop on the Underground Railroad and one of the few integrated working communities in the United States.<ref name=LAT-020408 /> His Rendville photo-essay would draw the attention of Edward Steichen and led to a solo exhibition at Helen Gee's Greenwich Village gallery, Limelight.<ref name=NYT-020405 /> Karales also drew attention from ''Look'' for the Rendville essay, and ''Look'' would go on to hire him<ref name=NYT-020405 /> in 1960<ref name=LAT-020408 /> to cover and photograph both the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam. Karales worked for ''Look'' until the magazine closed in 1972; afterwards, he worked as a freelance photographer.<ref name=LAT-020408 /> Before he met Smith, he also created a photo-essay on the Greek-American community in his hometown of Canton, Ohio.<ref name=LAT-020408>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-apr-08-me-karales8-story.html |title=James Karales, 71; Photographed Selma March |author=Thurber, Jon |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 8, 2002 |access-date=24 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2013/7158.html |title=Controversy and Hope: The Civil Rights Photographs of James Karales |author1=Cox, Julian |author2=Jacob, Rebekah |author3=Karales, Monica |author4=Young, Andrew (foreword) |author-link4=Andrew Young |publisher=The University of South Carolina Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-61117-157-0 |edition=1st hardback |accessdate=24 February 2017}}</ref>

James Karales' estate is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/james-karales|title = James Karales - Artists - Howard Greenberg Gallery}}</ref>

===Civil rights documentation=== {{quotebox |text=[Karales's 1965 photograph] may very well be the seminal image to come out of the civil rights marches in the South. It is an amazing combination of movement and shadow. It looks like they are marching out of the Red Sea. |author=Taylor Branch, author of ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63'' |source=2002 interview, ''Los Angeles Times''<ref name=LAT-020408 /> |align=right |width=20em}} One of Karales's first assignments for ''Look'' sent him to Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee headquarters in Atlanta in 1960, where he photographed members undergoing passive resistance training.<ref name=PaC-130113 /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/jameskarales/02/index.html |title=Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 1960 |author=Karales, James |date=1960 |publisher=Duke University Libraries, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library |accessdate=24 February 2017 |archive-date=20 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920051520/http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/jameskarales/02/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later, he documented Dr. King's family life after being given unprecedented access in 1962–63, publishing photographs showing Dr. King explaining to his daughter Yolanda why they could not go to an amusement park<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/news/celebrating-the-life-and-work-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/ |title=Celebrating the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |author=Arnold, Sara |date=2013 |publisher=the Gibbes museum of art |accessdate=24 February 2017}}</ref> and interacting with other noted figures, including Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.<ref name=PaC-130113 />

In 2013, a book of Karales' photographs, ''CONTROVERSY AND HOPE: The Civil Rights Movement Photographs of James Karales'', was published by the University of South Carolina Press.

== Publications ==

*''James Karales.'' Howard Greenberg Library/Steidl: Göttingen, 2014. {{ISBN|978-3869304441}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.howardgreenberg.com/publications/james-karales|title=James Karales - James Karales - Publications - Howard Greenberg Gallery}}</ref> * {{cite book |url=http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2013/7158.html |title=Controversy and Hope: The Civil Rights Photographs of James Karales |author1=Cox, Julian |author2=Jacob, Rebekah |author3=Karales, Monica |author4=Young, Andrew (foreword) |author-link4=Andrew Young |publisher=The University of South Carolina Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-61117-157-0 |edition=1st hardback |accessdate=24 February 2017}} (also published in paperback, {{ISBN|978-1-61117-158-7}})

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/karalesjames/ James Karales collection at Duke University] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140328023516/http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/visit/press_releases_detail.php?id=143 Gibbes Museum of Art, 2013 exhibit]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karales, James}} Category:1930 births Category:2002 deaths Category:People from Canton, Ohio Category:American people of Greek descent Category:Selma to Montgomery marches Category:Photographers from Ohio