Category: Early Work

Portrait of the Day: Judge Robert Bork

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Judge Robert Bork. Author of Saving Justice.
 

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Portraiture  by Tony Ward, Copyright 2017

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Former Judge  Robert H. Bork, a former solicitor general, and acting head of the Justice Department at the time played a role in the Saturday Night Massacre, 1973, by agreeing with orders issued by then President Richard  Nixon, to fire Archibald Cox, special prosecutor appointed to the investigation of President Nixon and his involvement in the Watergate conspiracy. Bork was later nominated by President Ronald Regan on July 1, 1987 (after a promise made by President Nixon) to serve as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate, with 54 Democrats, rejected his nomination after  very contentious senate hearings, 42-58. During the hearings Senator Ted Kennedy famously remarked:

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.”

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To see more portraits from this series, go here: https://tonyward.com/early-work/close-ups-1990s/

 

Portrait of the Day

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Portfolio Classics

 

Photography and Text by Tony Ward, Copyright January 2, 2017

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This portrait of male fashion model was originally shot on film, using a single 600 watt fresnel hot lamp.  The classic lighting style with classic chiaroscuro on the shadow side is reminiscent of early film noir dramatic effects commonly scene in the black & white genre early film making.  David came through the studio after several other castings that day including a casting call at Calvin Klein. To see additional portraits from “Portfolio Classics 1993 – 1995”, go here: https://tonyward.com/early-work/portfolio-classics-1993-1995/

 

News: Pennsylvania Convention Center Purchases House of Prayer Portraits

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House of Prayer, Portraits: Philadelphia, 1980.

 

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Posted on September 19, 2016 by Tony Ward

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The Pennsylvania Convention Center recently purchased a series of four prints from the House of Prayer Portraits for $20,000.00.  The portrait series was produced in 1980. The prints are on permanent display on the ground floor of the new wing of the newly expanded convention center in Philadelphia.

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HOUSE OF PRAYER:  1976 to 1980

The church is a central theme at the spiritual core of the African American experience.  I was introduced as a photographer to the United House of Prayer for All People in 1976 by my late grandmother, Eva Sanders Ward. She was an usher of the church located at 16th and Fitzwater Streets in Philadelphia.  Grandmother was a devout follower and believer in The Apostolic Faith espoused by the words and acts of faith healing by his holiness, the reverend “Sweet Daddy” Grace. He had founded the church in West Wareham, Massachusetts in 1919.

During my childhood grandmother often invited me to her church services to witness the live music, singing and shouting spirit of the convocations African American congregation.  Until the first time I visited the church I observed too few positive images of the African American experience in America.  The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s made public countless images of hatred, prejudice, bigotry and racism on television and in print.  Having the privilege to visit the church, with camera in hand, from 1976 to 1980 was a unique opportunity. I was privileged to encounter and document a more positive outlook on African American life during this particular era in American History.

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To see more pictures from the House of Prayer portfolio, go here: https://tonyward.com/early-work/house-prayer-1976-1980/