Two things surprised me about his story. First, although these signs were common throughout the segregated South, I never once thought about the process of removing them.  Who did it? What did they think while removing the signs? Secondly, the story that Mr. Lucas tells is so funny that I had to ask him to tell it twice, not sure that I really heard right when he first told the story.

If the video doesn’t run in your browser, try posting this link into a different browser -> https://vimeo.com/36417553

-Michael A. Schwarz

Javors Lucas (short anecdote) from Michael Schwarz on Vimeo.

Mr. Javors Lucas, photograph copyright 2011 Michael A. Schwarz

There are many qualities that define a good journalist.  Patience, tenacity, honesty, inquisitiveness, and a good sense of humor are all essential.  One quality that I have always felt was vitally important is the ability to be open to the unexpected; serendipity.

My teen-aged child is constantly mortified and embarrassed by my insistence on striking up conversations with total strangers in her presence.  Sometimes I am amazed at how many syllables the word “Dad” can have.

I love talking with people that I encounter in my daily routine.  Flight attendants, waiters, waitresses, people in line, people behind the counter, and people in elevators, have all become unwitting victims of my incessant curiosity.  If I am sitting next to you in a plane, indulge me for one minute while I figure out if you are interesting, then I will either leave you alone or pester you with questions until I sense you can stand it no more. I enjoy doing this because I am curious about people.  You also never know when you will unearth a precious nugget of delicious knowledge or some amazing coincidence.  I once discovered, from a perfect stranger in Massachusetts, that her parents and my parents lived two blocks away from each other in Florida.

I experienced a wonderful example of serendipity a couple of months on a photo shoot in Macon, Georgia.  I was photographing a subject and needed to make some photos of her with her family.  I was immediately struck by her father, who seemed to be in his eighties, but had an incredibly sharp intellect and wit.  After the shoot was over, we struck up a conversation that was light and funny.  But after a little prodding, (not much really) I discovered that the man was a WWII veteran and had been based in the Pacific.  He told me many incredible stories about his life, each one more interesting and astonishing than the preceding story.  As we were talking, his daughter, the subject of our original photo shoot, came over and I whispered to her “your father is amazing”.  She looked at me and replied, “well he’s just told you more about himself than we’ve ever heard.  One of these days we’re going to have to do a video of him.”

“Hello! I’ll do it”, I blurted out.

Within a few moments we all agreed that I would return to Macon sometime in the future to do the interview. I was incredibly excited about the opportunity. Without having started the conversation, the chance to do the video would not have come along.

Part 2

Fast forward a month.  After a few phone calls, Mr. Javors Lucas, (the man referenced in Part 1 of this story) was curious and somewhat suspicious as to why I would want to drive all the way from Atlanta to Macon, but finally agreed that I could come to his home and interview him. I looked at my calendar and the only day I had available for weeks was going to be September 23, which also happened to be the one-year anniversary of my father’s passing.  The date couldn’t have been more perfect.

Mr. Lucas, raised in Georgia and educated in Alabama, was a veteran of WWII.  My father, a native of Poland, spent WWII trying to stay a few steps ahead of the Nazis, while most of his family perished. His running ended only after Germany surrendered to Allied forces. The symmetry was perfect.  I felt I could honor the memory of my father and the service of Mr. Lucas by conducting the interview.

Mr. Lucas was gracious and spent 3 hours with us.  He shared many fascinating stories, but the one that really caught my attention was his story about removing the “Whites only” and “Colored only” signs from the bathrooms of Warner Robins Air Force base.  I hope to share a short clip of his interview here soon.

-Michael A. Schwarz

Chris and Adda Groome. Photo Copyright 2011 by Michael A. Schwarz

What would you do if you were stuck in traffic on a hot Atlanta Friday and you received a call from a man who says his last name is Groom (Groome, actually, with an e), says he just got married, like 5 minutes ago, says he forgot to hire a photographer and oh by the way could you come and take a wedding portrait of him and his bride, like now.

Not having considered the possibility of such an occurrence, I didn’t quite know what to say when Chris Groome called to ask me that exact question.  At first I thought it must have been a friend making a prank call.  The voice sounded oddly familiar and the story was unlikely. From a photographer’s perspective, it seemed implausible that anyone could forget to hire a photographer for their wedding.  But then Chris explained that he had just gotten married at the Decatur (GA) Courthouse, no guests or attendees, just a judge and he and his new bride, Adda.

It was then that the cosmos came into alignment.  I had gotten married at the old Decatur Courthouse, right next door to where Chris and Adda got married.  It’s just a mile from where I now live.  I could only imagine the doghouse that Chris would be headed to that evening if he didn’t come up with a photographer quick.  So I gave Chris my address and asked him to be at my house in 15 minutes.  I decided that if Chris and Adda were nice and that this wasn’t some kind of scam (at this point I still had my doubts about whether this was all legit) that I would do their wedding portrait gratis as a wedding present.  Sometimes a dude has got to help a brother out.

I made it through traffic and was home a few minutes later when Chris knocked on my front door while his bride waited in the car. “Hi, I’m Michael,” I said, “you must be Chris.” Chris seemed like a nice guy and when I asked him if his bride was pissed that he didn’t arrange for a photographer he closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly in that hangdog way a married man, even one who just recently achieved that status, will do when he knows he screwed up. I knew instantly that Chris was a man of sincerity and integrity.  The shoot would proceed as I had planned.

Chris, Adda and I spent about a few minutes chatting and then we did a quick portrait session.  They turned out to be a lovely couple and I wish them many years of happiness together.

-Michael A. Schwarz

Warren Buffett, ©Michael A. Schwarz

I don’t tell many people this, but Warren Buffett is one of my heroes.  I admire Mr. Buffett not because he has amassed a huge fortune and is one of the richest men in the world, but because he has consistently proven to be wise, compassionate and humble.  He has been a strong voice of reason and common sense when the world seems like it just can’t get any crazier.

Mr. Buffett had a powerful piece in the New York Times this past weekend and I had to smile while reading it because it brought back memories of a photo shoot I had with him many years ago.

I will admit that at the time of the assignment, I had no idea who Warren Buffett was.  So before heading to Omaha to photograph him at Berkshire Hathaway headquarters, I did a little research and discovered that he was one of the world’s richest men and had a reputation of being a very nice man.  I was relieved to read about the nice part, as my experience with high-level executives would seem to reveal them split 50-50 between the nice and not-so-nice department.

Entering the Berkshire Hathaway headquarters, it was almost eerie to witness the ordinariness and lack of pretension of the building that housed the offices of this muti-billion dollar global conglomerate.  I don’t recall any PR people around, in fact there weren’t very many people working there at all.

After waiting for the reporter to finish her interview, I began setting up to photograph Mr. Buffett.  We struck up a conversation, and I mentioned that I had once had an internship at the Buffalo Evening News, a newspaper that Mr. Buffett had purchased soon after I left.  He asked me how I liked it there and I told him that it was the worst newspaper I had ever worked at.  That elicited a howl and a chuckle and we got a long great afterwards.

The shooting went quickly. He did everything I asked with patience and a surprisingly great sense of humor.  It was all over in probably no more than 15 minutes and I began to pack up my gear. I was working without an assistant and there were three large cases of cameras, lighting, and grip equipment.  When I was done packing, the reporter and I said our goodbyes and to my amazement, Mr. Buffett asked if I needed any help carrying my equipment to the elevator. My initial thought was to politely decline, but how could I resist such an offer?  So we left his office and headed to the elevator; me, the reporter and the world’s wealthiest photo assistant.

Following the shoot, as I learned more about Mr. Buffett’s kindness, humility and generosity, I realized that his offer to help was just him being Warren. I was not surprised at all to hear in 2006, that Mr. Buffett had decided to give away most of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over the years I have told that story many times to corporate executives.  Sometimes I tell it because I like the person and it is just a fun story to share. Sometimes I tell it because the subject is being an ass and it is a wonderful way to bring them down a notch or two.  One executive, Hugh McColl, the former CEO of Bank of America, did Mr. Buffett one better by helping me carry my equipment, not just to the elevator, but down to the lobby and out of the building.  Needless to say, he was a delightful subject.

Carolyn McKinstry. Photo copyright 2011 Michael A. Schwarz

I’ve been shooting professionally for almost 30 years now and it has been quite an interesting ride.  I am blessed to have worked with and photographed so many nice people over the years.  The not-so-nice people I just forget.

When I was just out of college my motivation for photographing was different than it is now.  In fact, it has morphed and evolved constantly.  That’s a good thing.  Hopefully, as we grow older we learn through our experiences and change into better people.

In college, I was a ball of fire motivated to change the world.  Studying the works of W. Eugene Smith, Lewis Hine and others, I saw that photography could be used as a tool to right social injustice.

Once I hit the work-world and started working for newspapers, it was made abundantly clear to me that fighting social injustice did not sell papers, but pet-of-the-week did.  So while I still wanted to make the world a better place, and this has always been the undercurrent of what I do, my motivation had slightly shifted.  I was after the thrill, the pride of the byline, the excitement of shooting the big game, or the celebrity.  Thankfully, that period didn’t last long.

Making great photos and pleasing the client has been my goal since I started freelancing.  But what I really love and have always appreciated about photography, and what motivates me more than anything else now, is that photography is really like a magic key that gets me into people lives.  It gives me the ability to talk with them and learn from them.  If I never photograph another professional athlete or celebrity, that will be fine with me.  I usually don’t have much to learn from them. (OK, James Brown was an exception and that will be saved for another day.)  What I treasure are people who are inspiring.  People who you’ve probably never heard of, but would be wowed just by listening to their stories.  I’ve had many opportunities to sit and listen to living, walking vessels of history and I am grateful.

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph one such woman in Birmingham, AL.  Caroyln Maull McKinstry was present at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, September 15, 1963, when a bomb went off, killing 4 of her young friends.

The bombing was a horrific act that marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and contributed support and momentum to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I could barely contain my excitement when Kevin, the photo editor from Guideposts Magazine, called to see if I would be available for the assignment.  Since moving to Atlanta, I have tried to learn as much as possible about the Civil Rights Movement.  It was an extraordinary period in our country’s history and many of the people who played important roles in that history are still with us.  In my mind, Kevin wasn’t just assigning me to shoot some photos for the magazine, he was offering me an opportunity to sit and talk with someone who witnessed that history first hand.  Better still, it was a combo still/video shoot, which meant I would be able to interview Ms. McKinstry for the video.  Another excuse to talk and ask more questions!

The story focused on the devastating impact the bombing had on the rest of Ms. McKinstry’s life, and how forgiving those responsible for the bombing allowed her to move on with her life and find peace.  Ultimately, Ms. McKinstry obtained her masters degree in Divinity from Samford University and wrote the book While the World Watched.  Despite recovering from a recent surgery, Ms. McKinstry was patient and generous with her time, spending more than 3 hours with us.  The conversation was amazing and gave me chills.  Once again, making me realize how lucky I am.

You can link to a shortened video interview with Ms. McKinstry here.