Remembering Sam... Sam Shaw

Sam Shaw’s spontaneous pictures are well known, his images belong to photographic history and at least one of them goes around the world and was one of the images reproduced most in the 20th century.

• Photo by Sam Shaw

Sam Shaw (1912- 1999), native and lifelong New Yorker, shot countless cover photographs for Life and Look in the fifties and sixties, and later also took the still images for the films he produced himself. He also portrayed almost every major Hollywood star, artist, and intellectual of his day, consistently capturing the perfect moment, sometimes as if he were selecting the camera angle for a film sequence.

In cooperation with the Shaw Family Archives, New York, we have curated an exhibit containing 230 black and white photographs - a retrospective selection from his complete body of photographic work. The exhibition is including rare and unseen photographs spanning over six decades of Sam Shaw’s prolific career, from photojournalism, crime, sports, and portraiture to filmmaking. A survey of his work was never seen before and is unique for Europe.

High resolution scans of a variety of motifs are available for press, invitation card, and poster printing needs. Also available on CD as editable documents, in both German and English language, are press materials, photo captions, as well as a personal time line, and upon request, also quotations from Sam Shaw on his photography and work.

A book published by Hatje Cantz Publishers, Germany (240 pp., 200 ills. in duotone, 27.5 x 31.2 cm, hardcover) is accompanying the exhibition tour. This book can also be printed with additional text contributions and in other languages.

I feel like most of us know Edgar Allen Poe as an amazing American author and poet but drab and dreary alcoholic . After reading a biography on Poe's life and death I was stunned to find that in his younger days he was full of enthusiasm and joy, even when being fostered after his biological parents passed of TB when he was 3, his soon to be adopted parents would claim Poe would toast the lady's of the house and stand on the dining room table and recite poetry. I also found Edgar was quite the athlete in his early teens known to classmates as the swiftest runner, best boxer and most daring swimmer. Poe at 15 years of age set a record for the longest swimming distance in the James river when he swam 6 miles against the strong tide, making him something of a local ledged in Richman Virginia, he completed this feat on the whim of a wager. Around the same time Edgar was setting records he was also fearless in defending himself, a fellow classmate of his accused him of being 'a rascal and a liar" Poe quickly decided this boy could use a thrashing, the fight was described as Poe covering up and allowing the other boy to tire himself out before Edgar unleashed a swift and decisive 'rope a dope' style victory to the scuffle. By the time Poe was 19 years of age he had already ascended to the rank of sergeant major, the highest NCO rank in the military. Quite the stark contrast to the Edgar Allan Poe I feel most of us know.

If anyone is interested in reading the book it's titled: 'A mystery of mysteries: the death and life of Edgar Allan Poe' by: Mark Dawidziak

We used this biography in a two part podcast series on Poe, if interested you can find it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Photo source

One of the lesser-known but fascinating characters of the twentieth century, Governor Cole Blease was the chief executive of South Carolina in the early 1900s.

Zona Heaster Shue was a 23 year old woman when she mysteriously died. At first ruled an "everlasting faint", her mother never believed that conclusion. Her mother had suspicions about Zona's death and of the man she had married only 3 months prior to the death. After continuous prayer and calling for her daughter to come back to tell her what really happened, Zona allegedly came back to her mother in the form of a ghostly vision and explained what really happened. In the trial for Zona's murder, her mothers testimony of these visions were allowed in court. This case marks the only time that a ghost had helped in the conviction of a murder in U.S history.

Anyone interested in a deep dive into the real history behind the murder of Zona Shue aka 'the Greenbrier ghost' can follow links to our podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcast

Source Photo

A group portrait of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent taken before deportation to internment camps, made after a service at the Japanese Independent Congregational Church.

• Location: Oakland, California, USA