September 25, 11am
Student Discussion with Photographer and FOTOFEST Curator Frederick Baldwin
Jepson Center for the Arts
Noted photographer Frederick Baldwin will take part in a special presentation open to college and high school students in theSavannah area. Baldwin will lecture on key events and projects in his career as a photographer and photography curator, and will take part in a discussion with guests in the audience. Baldwin pursued a career in photography in the 1950s after serving in the Korean War. Between the 1950s and early 1980s, he produced work for publications including Audubon, LIFE, National Geographic, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Time Life Books, Natural History, Smithsonian Magazine, Newsweek, and the New York Times among others. In 1960, Baldwin raised funds for a scientific expeditions to the islands of Spitsbergen (600 miles from the North Pole) to determine the feasibility of capturing, marking and tracking polar bears. Sponsored by the New York Zoological Society, Baldwin led the expedition, and he was the first to film polar bears from underwater; his polar bear photos appeared in LIFE. In 1961, he worked in Baja California, Mexico making underwater photos of marlin fishing, as homage to Ernest Hemmingway who he met in Cuba some years before. In 1963, Baldwin worked for Attorney General Robert Kennedy photographing street gangs and drug users in New York City’s Mobilization for Youth program. In 1963-64, he worked in the civil rights movement as a volunteer photographer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Savannah. Baldwin’s Savannah works were utilized for the exhibition and book originally titled “We ain’t what we used to be.” Baldwin is currently chairman of FOTOFEST, the International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art in Houston, Texas.
The lecture is free, thanks to project funding from the City of Savannah. Reservations suggested; call 912.790.8827.
