King, Woodstock, Kennedy, Uzzle

Borislav Baev
Nov 5 · 7 min read

Burk Uzzle is one of the few photojournalists that manage to not only capture the essence of several generations, but to also stay relevant through time. He succeeded in taking photos some of the most iconic historical moments of the US and the world, with an impressive collection of photographs taken throughout over six decades. His work has been displayed on over 38 exhibitions including more than 1000 photographs overall.

Born in North Carolina in 1938, Uzzle discovered his passion for photography at the age of fourteen. As a teenager living in post-war America, he witnessed first-hand the political and cultural shifts in his country and captured them with his photography. Starting with small jobs for local newspapers he would go about his day, riding his bicycle, and taking photos of important events happening in his hometown. After graduating from high-school he was certain that he did not want to attend college and instead wanted to improve his photography skills and turn his part-time school job into a profession.

Photo Source: Wikipedia

After graduating he started working for News& Observer, which set the beginning of his professional career as a photographer. Uzzle’s impeccable sense of capturing the most significant moments of iconic events did not go unnoticed. At the age of 23 he was hired by LIFE magazine and became their youngest photographer at the time. Soon after he was also targeted by magazines such as Rolling Stone, GEO and TIME.

His first breakthrough photographs came not long after, when he took several iconic photos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta. The civil rights movement was the first major cultural wave that Uzzle’s photography became recognized for. He followed the development of protests and events, as well as the lives of influential figures of the time. He would closely follow the rise of the civil rights protests after Dr. King’s assassination, his funeral proceedings, as well as the funeral of President John F. Kennedy that followed the year after. Ten years after those first photos of Dr. King, Uzzle would be one of the photographers to take the last ever pictures of the late preacher.

In Casket:Memphis. Photo Credit: Burk Uzzle

His iconic “In Casket:Memphis” shows the body of Dr. King in a white and pink casket at the Funeral Home in 1968. The photograph clearly depicts the immense loss for the civil rights movement, with people mourning and crying right next to the late preacher. The contrast of emotion and color in the picture shows Uzzle’s impeccable skill to take the most intimate and symbolic shot at the perfect moment. His close involvement in those events connected Uzzle to social justice movements that would then characterize a huge part of his work.

As the 60’s were roaming with the hippie movement, Uzzle followed its essential influence on American culture and the significant changes that it brought about. In 1969, he followed the iconic Woodstock music festival, taking some of the most memorable photos of it. He created an incredible selection of several photos of the attendees, some being fully naked, others smoking or dancing. The photo that is perhaps Uzzle’s most recognizable photograph of the event is “Woodstock Album Cover”. The photo shows a couple sharing a pink muddy quilt on one of the mornings of the festival. Among them are hundreds of other people, sleeping on the side of the hill. The picture, taken at the perfect moment again, shows not only the peacefulness of the couple at the center, but also the chaos and exhaustion around them- pure symbolism depicting the multiple layers of controversy surrounding the peace movement. The photograph became the cover of the official soundtrack record released after the festival, hence its name, and launched Uzzle’s career into new heights of success.

In the 1970’s Uzzle decided to not only follow the historical movements in his home country, but to also expand his photographic horizon and go abroad. During that time, the Vietnam war had already affected many lives on the Indochinese peninsula, which is why Uzzle took the decision to go exactly there. He managed to visit Cambodia and Thailand and to take pictures of the refugee camps there, flooded by people that fled their homes due to the tragic events of the war. In the two decades after he also managed to follow events in Haiti, Spain and England.

Woodstock was a perfect example of the need to depend on personal instincts and values. I declined assignments then, and have often done so as editors always wish to assume control, sight unseen, of an even with their preconceptions. Therefore my friends, handcuffed by assignments, completely missed the essential point and essence of Woodstock. It was not exaggerated, it was amazing and I will never forget it. — Uzzle, 2019

During that time, however, he was also very invested in working for the international photographic cooperative “Magnum Photos”. He would serve as the President of the organization from 1979 to 1981.

During the 20th century, Uzzle’s photographic style would largely consist of portraits or photos of people in general. His utter interest in social justice movements would explain that fascination and focus on faces, emotions and expressions. However, in the beginning of the new millennium Uzzle took a completely different turn in the direction of his photography. When asked if there is a signature routine he performs before embarking on a project he answered:

Try to learn as much as possible about the subject matter, person or place. Google, conversations with those who know. Analyze how I will be likely to photograph the content. What equipment needed? Lights? will I need to be fast on my feet and intuitively responsive, or more contemplative in my approach. Will it likely be a “mind” workout, or an intuition, emotional workout. — Uzzle, 2019

Although he continued to photograph people, his collection of portraits also included landscape photography. After travelling around the country and the globe for most of his career, Uzzle decided to return to his home state of North Carolina and instead observe the everyday life of the people there. Especially in the 2010’s his work focused specifically on the small southern towns and their locals.

Many of the landscape photographs from his collection during the 2007–2011 period depicted largely the Southern spirit. An iconic photograph of this exhibition is GB America (2010), that shows the American flag proudly laying on the roof of a barn. Beneath the barn an old rusty car and a trailer can be seen, and in the far back the Confederacy flag, suggesting the contrast between past and present. The bright colors of the newly painted light blue rooftops and the forgotten cars below also suggest this well-known contrast that Uzzle very often characterizes in his work. In regards to the field of photojournalism he shared:

“ Photojournalism changes every day, and in fifty years our means of communication will no doubt be served by new methods, new mechanisms and tools, but all that will still depend on the nature of our humanity, the depth of our beings, the ethics and morality of our personal values, and the receptivity of the society that we serve.”

Even though his style shifted a little, Uzzle continued to focus on and to show the struggles of Americans in the new century and the injustices they experience today, including the ones of the people of color.

Currently, Uzzle still focuses on photography in his North Carolina studio. Being close to his roots, he tries to capture the everyday life of Americans, through their unique experiences and authenticity. His studio is a wide open former casket and automobiles factory, that now hosts the iconic exhibitions of his works. He tries to focus his attention to the needs of our societies to control violence and learn to live in harmony while having put aside differences.

Regardless of his change of style, Uzzle still manages to have an effect on his audience throughout generations. His skill to focus on symbols and contrasts, and to utterly depict the exact emotions of a situation make him one of the most gifted photojournalists and artists of our time.

Photojournalism is an art form, and I hope you will take it seriously, and take the responsibility that goes with transmission of facts and feelings to others very seriously. If you do, and you evolve as a fine person, perhaps you can make the world a better place. -Burk Uzzle, 2019

You can find more information about Burk Uzzle on his website: https://www.burkuzzle.com/

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