Bernie Boston
{{short description|American photographer (1933–2008)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bernie Boston
| image =
| birthname =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|5|18|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = Washington DC, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|1|22|1933|5|18|mf=yes}}
| death_place = Basye, Virginia, US
| occupation = Photojournalist
| alias =
| title =
| family =
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| networth =
| credits = Pulitzer Prize-finalist ({{times|x2}})
| URL =
| agent =
}}Bernie Boston (May 18, 1933 – January 22, 2008) was an American photographer most noted for his iconic Flower Power image.
Life and career
Boston was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in McLean, Virginia. During his time in high school he was a photographer for the newspaper and yearbook. He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in 1955.{{cite news |title=Bernie Boston, 74; Took Iconic 1967 Photograph |first=Adam |last=Bernstein |date=January 24, 2008 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303713.html |access-date=July 14, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106024913/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303713.html |archive-date=November 6, 2012}} He was a member of the Gamma Phi local fraternity and RIT, and after it became a chapter of Sigma Pi fraternity he was inducted into the national organization.{{cite magazine |last=McHenry |first=John A. |date=Summer 1960 |volume=47 |number=2 |magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi |title=Rochester Institute Local Granted Beta Phi Charter |pages=76–78 |url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1960/SP_Emerald_VOL_47_NO_2_SUMMER_1960.pdf |access-date=July 14, 2022 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220133121/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1960/SP_Emerald_VOL_47_NO_2_SUMMER_1960.pdf |archive-date=December 20, 2016}}{{cite magazine |date=Summer 1989 |volume=76 |number=2 |magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi |title=Alumni Features {{!}} Bernie Boston Beta-Phi 52' |pages=13–14 |url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/Other/SP_EMERALD_VOL_76_NO_2.pdf |access-date=July 14, 2022 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815051415/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/Other/SP_EMERALD_VOL_76_NO_2.pdf |archive-date=August 15, 2016}} After his time at Rochester Institute of Technology, Boston studied at the United States Air Force School of Aviation Medicine. He served in the Army for two years while in Germany practicing radiology "in a neurosurgical unit."
In 1958, he left the Army and returned to Washington, working in custom photofinishing.{{cite web |title=Bernard "Bernie" Boston, 74, Retired Los Angeles Times Photojournalist, Was An Icon |date=January 22, 2008 |work=National Press Photographers Association |url=https://nppa.org/news/1521 |access-date=September 30, 2017}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20211209064106/https://nppa.org/news/1521 Archived version]. He started his news photography career in Dayton, Ohio with the Dayton Daily News. He moved back to Washington to work at The Washington Star and was director of photography when the newspaper folded in 1981. He then was hired by the Los Angeles Times to establish a photo operation in the nation's capital.
Boston covered every president from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton. In 1967 he was commissioned to shoot a portrait of former Black Panther H. Rap Brown. Noticing the trend of a call for civil rights in the late 1960s, Boston took more images of the Civil Rights Movement, including a portrait of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. during his Poor People's Campaign, and other notable events. On October 22, 1967, he photographed his most famous picture, Flower Power, which showed a Vietnam War protester inserting flowers into National Guardsmen's rifle barrels.{{cite news |title=Flowers, Guns and an Iconic Snapshot |first=David |last=Montgomery |date=March 18, 2007 |page=D04 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701300.html |access-date=July 14, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013151259/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701300.html |archive-date=October 13, 2008}}
He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for a 1987 photograph of Coretta Scott King unveiling a bust of her late husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in the U.S. Capitol.{{cite web |title=The 1987 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Spot News Photography |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/bernie-boston |work=The Pulitzer Prizes |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=July 14, 2022 |quote=Finalist: Bernie Boston of Los Angeles Times {{!}} For his photograph of Coretta Scott King at the unveiling of a bronze bust of her late husband in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.}}
Boston taught photojournalism classes at Northern Virginia Community College and Rochester Institute of Technology.
An archive of many of Boston's negatives as well as some prints and contact sheets is held at Rochester Institute of Technology. Established as a tribute to his memory and an inspiration for young photographers, it includes most of his work including the original negative for Flower Power.{{cite magazine |title=A tribute to photojournalist and alumnus Bernie Boston |last=Mulligan |first=Therese |date=February 7, 2008 |page=3 |magazine=RIT News & Events |publisher=Rochester Institute of Technology |url=https://digitalarchive.rit.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1850/6592/NandE02-07-2008_vol_40_09.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=July 14, 2022}}
Boston attributed his success to his knowledge of his equipment. In an age of film, he knew chemistry as well as the capabilities of his lenses. Boston also believed in dressing in a suit and tie. "I'm in the capital of the world and I don't believe you should walk into an office in jeans and a sweat-shirt. I think you should blend in."
Awards
- 1987: Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, Spot News Photography.
- 1993: Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award from the National Press Photographers Association, their highest honor.{{cite web |title=Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award {{!}} Past Recipients 1990s |date=July 14, 2022 |work=National Press Photographers Association |url=https://nppa.org/page/joseph-sprague-memorial-award |access-date=July 14, 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209101443/https://nppa.org/page/joseph-sprague-memorial-award |archive-date=February 9, 2022}}
- Inducted into the Hall of Fame of Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists.{{cite web |title=Hall of Fame |date=July 15, 2022 |work=Society of Professional Journalists |url=https://spjdc.org/hall-of-fame/ |access-date=July 15, 2022}}
Publications
- Bernie Boston: American Photojournalist. Henrietta, New York: RIT Cary Graphic Arts, 2006. By Therese Mulligan. {{ISBN|978-1933360195}}.
Death
Boston died at his home in Basye, Virginia, on January 22, 2008, of amyloidosis.
References
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Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:21st-century American photographers
Category:Military personnel from Washington, D.C.
Category:Photographers from Washington, D.C.
Category:Rochester Institute of Technology alumni
Category:People from McLean, Virginia
Category:Photographers from Virginia
Category:Deaths from amyloidosis