Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro
Born	1934 (age 82–83) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Photographer
Years active	1961 - present

Steve Schapiro (born 1934, in New York) is an American photographer. He is known for his photos of key moments of the African-American Civil Rights Movement such as the March on Washington or the Selma to Montgomery March. He is also known for his portraits of celebrities and movie stills, most importantly from The Godfather and Taxi Driver.

Schapiro discovered photography at the age of nine. Soon he decided to devote himself to photojournalism. One of his role models at the time was the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Shapiro took lessons with W. Eugene Smith, an influential photographer during the Second World War. Smith taught him the technical skills and showed him how to develop his own views of the world and of photography. Schapiro’s work reflects the influence of his teacher.

In 1961 Schapiro began working as a freelance photographer. His photos were published in Life, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time and Paris Match.

The political, cultural and social changes of the 1960s in the United States were an inspiration for Schapiro. He accompanied Robert Kennedy during his presidential campaign and captured key moments of the African-American Civil Rights Movement such as the March on Washington or the Selma to Montgomery March. Schapiro not only worked in the fields of photojournalism and documentation, but also became a real activist. This is, for instance, visible in his way of documenting the hard lives of immigrant workers from Arkansas he dealt with in 1961.

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