John Shearer’s Focus on History
With Black History Month coming to a close, we celebrate the life and work of John Shearer, an award-winning photographer, author, and creative director that once called the Pound Ridge area home. Shearer’s talent and determination enabled him to capture moments that defined history, and to make history himself.
John began taking photographs when he was only eight years old. By high school, he had won the prestigious Scholastic Photography Awards and had exhibited his work at the Kodak Gallery in Grand Central Terminal. At 17, he was hired part-time by LOOK magazine and travelled to Washington DC to cover John F. Kennedy’s funeral. Still only a teenager, Shearer took one of his most iconic photographs, an image of the nearly three year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting the passing casket of his father.
Shearer worked full-time for LOOK magazine for several years before he was hired by LIFE magazine in 1968. During his tenure at both magazines he covered the civil rights movement, the race riots of the 1960s, and a variety of other notable events and personalities including the first Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier bout dubbed the "Fight of the Century" and the the Attica Prison riots of 1972.
Shearer’s courage and grit were as impressive as his photography. He was the only photographer allowed inside Attica Prison during the 1972 riots and had his collarbone broken during the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He routinely wore a mouthguard and often strapped a blanket under his shirt to protect his body. He even stuffed his nose with vinegar soaked cotton to counter the effects of tear gas as he photographed dangerous moments.
Shearer won 175 national photography awards and over 150 national magazine design awards. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum.