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Biography

Curtis Palmer

I could say my first camera was a Kodak Brownie and that I bought just about every model camera kodak ever made in 620 format then 126 format 620 was about the same as 120 film which is still in use. the films were interchangable in some cameras though 620 had to be put on a 120 spool or vice versa 126 was the sme size as 35mm again the spools were different.

In Germany I graduated to 35mm when I bought an Afga Ambiflex single lens reflex. This was a close kin to the famous and superb Exacta professional cameras which are still in production. In 1960 the same year I bought the Camera I won my first photo contest and became the infant terrible. I bested a couple of friends with big egos and deep pockets they both, Peter Chacon and Alexander Robinson,used Leicas M-3 cameras. This then and now is the Rolls Royce of German Cameras.

We all three were protoges of Dick Kerrakas. So we all won prizes not surprisingly. But I was the dark horse. I wanted the flexibility the reflex camera offered. What you saw was what you got. It was noisy but more precise for composing. Reflex cameras before automation posed one difficulty and that was focusing in dim light. Split prism focusing saved the day.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity or rather the fate to appear in the good company of people like President and General Charles DeGaulle. Taking his photograph and the likes of Olivia de Havilland and Brigitte Bardot and Yvette Mimeuix pushed my work past unpassable doors. I dated one of President DeGaulles Staff Generals' Daughter this smoothed my passage of 2 years time in Paris and got me introduced. I visited all of the famous coutre houses and was recognized by Yves St Laurent and Pierre Cardin. The Generals' daughter was also a fashion model and I had contributed to her portfolio.

It was simple to get published my mentor and friend Dick Kerrakas had settled in at Blackstar Photo Agency and all models movie stars and such were anxious to get as much exposure as possible. I had as much work as I could handle. I had access to studios on the Champs Elysee Rue Marbeuf and across Paris.

Exhausted at one point I began to teach in the same photolab where I had learned the basics after Dick took his job in Paris. After seven years of teaching and winning contests I took a staff position at the Denver Post Newspaper. But I was back in Europe after 4 years in America trying to rekindle the passion for an unbelivable string of credits. This time around I stacked the cards in my favor more through professional affiliations than through friendships. These affiliations included The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, The National Press Photographers Association, Associated Press, Reuters News Agency, United Press International and a bundle of others.

For a working Photojournalist there is hardly time to work outside the framework of journalism because of so many deadlines. So my photo credits which must number to a million by now must of necessity take the place of Juried shows and gallery showings.

My winning works in 1972 NPPA contest are a part of the permanent Denver Post Collection. I have photographed the Miss America competition 1970, I was for three years the official photographer for the Miss Black America Contest 1971-74 see Ebony Magazine center fold 1972.

I have photographed the World Games twice 1974-75 Helsinki Sanomat and Urheilu Talo.

I also photographed The world fencing Championships 1988 Denver Weekly News. I have done Formulae one auto racing,The Denver Grand Prix where I met Dr. Giorgio Ferrari heir apparant to his famous father Ensio Ferrari 1988 AP. I Covered SALT 1 from Helsinki 1975 Seura Magazine. where some 35 presidents convened to discuss arms limitations. I am still having a great time.

But Kodak is unable to equip me these days. You could say I am stronger than ever. I have worn out a lot of shoe leather and most cameras that I have owned over the last 30 years. It all came together around the age of eighteen and I still feel eighteen. So when folks ask my age I quip eighteen but my Presse ID these days reads Master Photojournalist. C.R. Palmer.

List of mentors and consultants:

These being Michael Baliff Howard Publisher Rocky Mountain News Daily Newspaper, also President Scripps/ Howard Newspaper Syndicate. Lowell Thomas, ABC TV News Anchor, Gordon Parks, Photojournalist Life Magazine, John H. Johnson Publisher Ebony Magazine, Dick Kerrakas Black Star Paris & NYC News Syndicate, Francisco Scavullo Fashion Photographer, Steve Larson, Photo Editor Denver Post, Hekki Parkkonen Editor Seura Magazine.

My inspiration has came from publication at many of the worlds top rated newspapers and magazines (more than a hundred), including Soviet Life. Over the years I spent a large amount of my time getting published rather than entering juried shows, however, I have accepted juried show invitations twice already this year after an absence of some 30 years from that world stage.

Juried shows Being JamesBaird.com 5 july 02 deadline and secondly AbsoluteArts.com deadline 2 April 02. I have two shows in progress and a total of 7 or 8 shows pending for the year.

Further studies undertaken with....BFA 1980, University of Colorado Denver USA, The New York School of Modern Photography 1972, and The Time Life Photography School 1973. Studied Journalism at The Community College of Denver from a staff member Steve Gascoyne at United Press International 1972. Also studied at The University of Helsinki 1974.

My club affiliations and the people or places my name has been associated with:

The Finnish Press Club and Foreign Ministry and The Colorado Press Association and the Public Relations Department of The United Nations Associations-USA. Time Magazine, Burda Publication of Switzerland, The Royal Photographic Society of G.B., Dagens Bladet Copenhagen, and Expressions Stockholm, New York Herald-Tribune Paris. Frankfurter Rundshau , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Germany. The International Library of Photography (picture.com), and The International Freelance Photographers Organization (American Image News).

These are pivotal newspapers that I have contributed to but by no means all inclusive. There is no room to show more than a hundred newspapers and magazines.