While shoveling the sidewalk in front of my grandfathers house at 8th and Taylor in Topeka, Kansas on a snowy January morning; I was desperately fighting a losing battle against the rapidly falling flakes when one of the few cars traversing the snow covers streets pulled to a stop in front of the house.
Out of the warm car jumps a young man carrying a couple of cameras. He yells at me to just keep shoveling, so I do. After about 10 minutes of being photographed from almost every angle, he approaches and asks my name and my mother’s name. I was so nervous I couldn’t even remember my mom’s full name.
Photo of Brian Lanker by former KU classmate, and Capital-Journal photographer, Carl Davaz.
That evening the photo appeared on the front page of the Topeka Journal. The photographer that took the photo was Perry Riddle. It was my first encounter with a Rich Clarkson photographer, and unbeknownst to me at the time, the first step on the path to my chosen career.
Recently I learned of the unexpected death of former Capital-Journal photographer Brian Lanker. Brian, who won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography while at the Capital-Journal in 1973, died from pancreatic cancer at his Eugene, Oregon home. He was 63.
Lanker won the Pulitzer for a black-and-white photo essay on childbirth, “Moment of Life.”
I remember seeing the story in the Sunday Capital-Journal, but also a few months later how moved I was listening Lanker tell about the experience at a speaking engagement at the University of Kansas. It made me want to be a better photographer.
Upon hearing of his death, it struck me that this was the beginning of the end era of great newspaper photojournalism; an era that will never again be equaled.
I was lucky growing up in a town that had a newspaper that encourage great photojournalism, and devoted space on its pages for readers to view.
Seeing the photos of Lanker, David Allen Havery, Gary Settle and the other Clarkson graduates; inspired not only me, but also a host of young photographers that continue to document history with their photographic talent.
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