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Franklynn Peterson
Professional data

Artist's statement:

You can’t have walked the earth for 70 years as I have, alive to its opportunities as well as its challenges, and feel good enough about what you see around you today. 

Poverty humiliates more of our brethren.

Hunger hurts many many millions of innocents.

Governments are ignoring citizens who most need justice, homes, jobs—and hope.

Businesses more and more myopically see only a bottom line, but no higher calling.

I fear that when the meek shall inherit the earth, it will be only because the earth, finally, is worthless.  Maybe only then will we all be equally meek.

Until then—or even hopefully to prevent “then” from damaging the physical, social and spiritual life as once nourished us all—those of us who were singled out to act wisely must act wisely and creatively, eagerly and confidently.  A dismal reality is that, now, creative writers along with creative artists and photographers have been left lonely to shoulder this onerous burden to show life as it is, truly, and as it could be, should be.

I submit my work as a humble offering toward fixing what needs fixing on this Earth and among the only people who will ever inhabit that Earth.  It is the only earth we have been given to care for.

Resume:

• Pioneered use of small format cameras
which made it possible to capture intimate and revealing street scenes and other candid expressions of life in the USA and abroad.  That began with early Leica film cameras, and today mostly with non-SLR digital models.  (He is adamant that the flipping digital SLR mirrors introduce enough vibration to hamper hand-held slow exposures.)

 • Deliberately intensified color saturation
 in transparencies starting in the 1960s, which resulted in stunning color reproductions but required exceptional care and time by engravers and lithographers.  Today’s digital equipment is able to digitize these transparencies and more easily print the highly saturated colors.

• Photojournalist:
• Black Star Photo Agency, 1964 – present.
•Bernsen’s Int’l. Press Service, 1963-70.
•Metropolitan Sunday Newspapers, 1964-77.

 • Editor:
• Sepia magazine, 1965-77.  Editor in Chief, 1977-79.
• Brooklyn Congress of Racial Equality, Action! 1965-70.
• American Society of Journalists & Authors newsletter, 1975.
• CPA Computer Report newsletter, 1995-2006 (and co-publisher).

 • Photo/Art Exhibitions:
• University of Wisconsin (Madison) Memorial Union, 1958 (Group).
• Brooklyn (NY) Public Library, 1972, 1973, 1974 (Individual Shows)
• The Camera Company, Madison WI, 1980  (Individual Show).
• Statue of Liberty traveling exhibition, 1986 (Group).
• Dardanelles, Madison WI, 2005 (Group).
• Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, "Snap to Grid," 2007 (Group).
• Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, "Top 40" juried art show, 2008 (Group).
• Watson Studio Gallery, Johnson City, TX, “Abstract Expressions” juried art show, 2008.
• Aurora Color Gallery, Petaluma, CA, “Abstracts, Color and Texture” juried art show, 2008.
• Athens (GA) Inst. for Contemporary Art (ATHICA), “Over Load” juried art show, 2008, 4 prints.
• American Print Alliance, “Soap Box 2” juried traveling show, 2008, 2 prints.
• PaulaBarr Chelsea International Juried Art Exhibition for 2008
• “Running on Empty,” Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA), Athens GA, January 31- March 22, 2009.  “Stop Those Alaska Pipe Lines.”
• Nominee, International Color Awards, Photography Masters Cup, Photojournalism category, March 22, 2009.
• Space 237 Gallery, Toledo OH.  Juried show.  April 17-June 5, 2009.  4 prints.
• “Free Press in Free Fall,” Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA), Athens GA, September 19-November 8, 2009. 7 prints.
• “Images from an Activist's Lens: Retrospective of the Art Photography of Wisconsin's own Franklynn Peterson 1959-2008."  August 1-September 10, 2010.  Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Madison, WI.  Published catalog with all 35 chosen prints included plus others for biographical purposes.

• Dozens of private collectors including design professor, motion picture director…

 • Journalism/Film Awards:

• Oberhauser Grand Prix (shared) at documentary film festival for short documentary anti-Vietnam war film, “12-12-42,” 1966.
• Natl. Conf. of Christians & Jews Brotherhood in Media, 1967.
• American Optometric Assn., 1971.
• Jesse H. Neal Award (Am. Business Press Assn.), 1977.
• National Press Club, 1984, 1985.
• Best Home Schooling Publications of 2007.

 • Photos have appeared in:  

Books and Textbooks such as those published by

• McGraw-Hill,
• Prentice-Hall,
• Allyn & Bacon,
• Random House,
• Simon & Schuster.

 Magazines such as

• Popular Science,
• Science & Mechanics,
• Yankee,
• Parade,
• This Week,
• Sepia,
• Ave Maria,
• Family Circle,
• McCall’s,

• Travel magazines, social journals….

Films such as:
• 12-12-42 by Xanadu Productions.  It won Oberhauser Grand Prix.
• Blondes Do Have More Fun by David Wolper Productions.
• Business Plus Ethics, a film for McGraw-Hill on business ethics by Wilding Productions.
• Oh What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me! by John Bishop, Media Generation.

Career highs and lows:

Activist:

• Franklynn's mother used to complain that he was born an activist, but then it's likely that she was too.
    ►As editor of his high school newspaper, when the principal censored his editorials—which was often—Franklynn in cahoots with some dare-devil commercial students "went underground" and had the uncensored version on the streets by the next noon.
    ►In college,  Franklynn:

        (a) helped to found the only left/liberal organization on campus in Senator McCarthy's home state (Himself being very much alive), and as such had the honor to introduce W.E.B. duBois to a very large audience;
        (b) for the student government, researched the state of racial intolerance in fraternities and sororities and his controversial report found it abysmal;
        (c) Initiated a campus movement to eliminate compulsory ROTC military training, which was joined voluntarily by a cadre of community organizations and dignitaries; the initiative succeeded the year after Franklynn graduated;
        (d) Issued a call to support African-American students sitting-in across the south by picketing Madison's Woolworth's on Saturday and within a month had so many joiners they were picketing 4 stores, staging marches and educational meetings with actual sit-in students that these activists bussed in.  Meetings among Midwest college civil rights organizations led to formation of the Northern Student Movement and splinters of NSM formed the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and splinters of that formed the Weathermen, or so the legend spins.

• Franklynn's activism with Brooklyn CORE and national CORE can be seen, in brief, at the web site of the Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, http://www.crmvet.org/vet/peterson.htm

• With his own resources and funds, Franklynn designed and executed an annual month-long FREEyourDOMmind photo exhibit and multi-media happening at Brooklyn Public Library's Bedford-Stuyvesant branch.  That event called attention to the Peterson-run free Communications Workshop at the library.

• Parents' Associations, when his children were in school, relied on Franklynn's creative educational activities, such as a public spelling bee showing off locals who were going to the city-wide spelling bee, complete with captioned spelling words projected above the spellers.  Later, when teachers went on strike and locals found new sites for classes, he always found a way to get an item in the New York Times about the local classes.

• Madison homeless projects

 ►Shortly after moving to Madison WI (1977), Franklynn pitched in to launch a shelter for the homeless.
 ►Later, led Beth Israel congregation to contribute funds and mentors to spend 2 years trying to lead each homeless family to self-sufficiency.

• Cuba

 ►Carried 80 pounds of medical supplies to a pediatric hospital in Camaguey, Cuba, and donations to congregations there as well (as did the other 8 travelers). 

Personal:

• Born 1938 during The Great Depression in a Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) camp in northern Wisconsin.
• Moved toward central Wisconsin via paper mill towns.
• Graduated high school in 1956 in a Mill Town (Port Edwards, WI) class of 24 students.
• Graduated University of Wisconsin (B.S. Sociology-Mass Communications) 1960.
• Lived on edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn, NY) 1960-75.  In Great Neck, NY, 1975-77.
• Lives in Madison, WI, since 1977.
• Has 5 children and 5 grandchildren, who by now mostly have what it takes to be professional models—except for having too much of their grandfather's looks!

Archives holding collections of Mr. Peterson's photos or manuscripts:

Manuscript, working papers, and photograph collection from 1960-1978 housed and cataloged at University of Wyoming main library American Heritage Collection in Laramie, WY.

Oral history (1978) housed in Oral History Collection, University of Wisconsin.  It pertains to early years of involvement with civil rights and radical politics as well as career in photography and journalism.

Photos published in Sepia magazine (1965-79) digitized and cataloged in Library at North Texas University, Denton, TX (Dallas-Fort Worth area).

B&W Photo Collection (1964-2000) formerly on sale at Black Star Photo Agency has been housed and cataloged by Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, since 2006 in a collection tracing the recent history of photography and photojournalism.

 The smiling photographer:

One of the most dramatic illustrations of Mr. Peterson's smile and smiling personality is a photo he grabbed while photographing a botanical garden in Kanazawa.  A group of Japanese, touring the garden was sitting for a group portrait by a local photographer.  When Mr. Peterson raised his tiny Nikon, they spotted it and turned to him immediately and (almost) all smiled in unison with him!

. 

Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Judi K-Turkel, Franklynn Peterson, P/K Associates, Inc. 
3006 Gregory Street, Madison WI 53711-1847.  608-231-1003. 
Info (AT) BooksThatTeach (DOT) com.