Eli Reed
Ellis (Eli) Reed (born 1946) is an American photographer and photojournalist. Reed was the first full-time black photographer employed by Magnum Agency and the author of several books, including "Black In America". Several of the photographs from that project have been recognized in juried shows and exhibitions. Reed is a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University (1982–83) and is currently the clinical professor of photojournalism at The University of Texas at Austin. He was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1982. Reed is a Sony Global Imaging Ambassador as well as a  recipient of the World Press Award and Overseas Press Club Award. Reed was honored with a Lucie Foundation Award in Documentary Photography in 2011. In 2015, Reed's work was exhibited at the prestigious Visa pour l'image Festival Du Photoreportage in Perpignan, France. 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, Reed was a keynote speaker at "National Geographic Magazine"′s Photography Seminar in Washington, D.C. Early life. Reed was raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He took his first photograph at  the age of 10, documenting his mother by the Christmas tree. Primarily self-taught in photography, he attributes his direction to mentor Donald Greenhaus rather than any formal studies. He studied illustration at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, graduating in 1969. Career. Reed became a freelance photographer in 1970. Magnum Photos became affiliated with him after the success of his work in such conflicts as the wars in Central America, the war in Lebanon (which he covered between 1983 and 1987), the 1986 Haiti coup against "Baby Doc" Duvalier, and the 1989 U.S. military action in Panama . Reed became a full member of the agency in 1988. He has documented the Million Man March, Lebanon during civil war, lives of African Americans, upheaval in Zaire, U.S. military action in Panama among other things. Reed started making photographs of films and actors in 1992 and is also a member of Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers (SMPSP). Reed mainly uses the Olympus E-3, E-30, and EP-1 for his work. Reed has taught in numerous places including at the Maine Photographic Workshop; Wilson Hicks Symposium, Miami University, Florida; Southeastern Museum of Photography, Daytona, Florida; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. ; San Francisco State University; Harvard University; Boston Institute of Art; Academy of fine Art, San Francisco; University of Texas at Austin; Columbia University; Empire State College, New York; New York University, and the International Center of Photography, New York.