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The Power of One
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“They spoke of the same South, but out of different sides of their mouth.”
The accomplished Atlanta photographer, journalist, social activist and artist Billy Howard reflected on a shoot involving local legends Lewis Grizzard of the AJC and civil rights champion the Rev. Hosea Williams.
“I came up with the idea, jogging on Lullwater (Druid Hills), when a green vintage truck came upon me; I stopped the driver,” said Mr. Howard. “We then scheduled the shoot for the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on a road inside resembling the rural South.”
Like all of Mr. Howard’s celebrated photography, the image stirs with a moment in time, long lost, when Grizzard and Rev. Williams were casting giant Atlanta footprints.
“They were like old friends. It was the first time they had met, lots of laughs, both in trademark clothing: Lewis in Gucci shoes, no socks, Rev. Williams in overalls. I could have kissed 'em!” laughed the Raleigh native who has called Atlanta home 45+ years.
The photo marked the 25th anniversary of Atlanta Magazine and with it, an unforgettable local snap shot.
“Today, I am putting together a book of my work from the 1980s, Love, Lust and Loss, a photographic memoir,” added Mr. Howard, “I will be culling through a billion images.”
Billy Howard has been described as “the go-to photographer for the game-changing idealists of the world.” He has worked with the Carter family for decades, documenting health, and education issues around the world.
“The untold benefit of my career: meeting amazing, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.”
Mr. Howard traveled to Ghana years ago chronicling the fight against Guinea worm disease.
“My small book was sent by the Carter Center to every member of Congress, seeking help in the eradication of an ancient plague.”
He accompanied President and Mrs. Carter to Gaza having dinner with Yasir Arafat inside the Palestinian leader's home.
“It was an extraordinary experience.”
Howard was an English major at St. Andrews College (now university) in North Carolina.
“While in school, I wanted to be a photographer. Didn’t think it was a possibility, and eventually interviewed at a Raleigh newspaper.”
The interview was a disaster.
The chief photographer of the paper was unkind toward the young North Carolinian, shouting criticism for all to hear, “too many of your subjects are looking at the lens.”
After being consoled by those who witnessed the tirade, a watershed moment for the aspiring photojournalist:
“I realized I liked people looking into the camera,” laughed Mr. Howard.
Other opportunities would follow: The Marietta Daily Journal, Georgia Tech, and a decade at Emory University where he would meet President Carter, who had an office atop the school library.
“I would photograph the first meeting between President Carter and his vice president, Walter Mondale, since leaving office. I shot through a window at Emory. The photo went all around the world.”
Howard was then 28. It was one of his first assignments for Emory. Today, the same space is now the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library which houses the Billy Howard Collection of Photographs.
All these years since, the Howard resume is expansive with so much accomplishment: A landmark work on AIDS, Children’s Cancer, Homelessness, featured during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Texas-Austin, Artist in Residence at the National School of Photography in France, a photography lecturer in Japan, lecturer University of Arts in Philadelphia, many grants including the National Endowment for the Arts.
“I’m a curious person, seeking to learn about lives. My favorite work compliment came from a child who after seeing a photo of himself, exclaimed, That’s me!!”
Along with his publisher wife, Laurie Shock, they're an Atlanta power couple of photography and story telling.
“What I want people to walk away with after seeing my work, is the intrinsic value of each person. Whether it’s a drag queen, or Desmond Tutu, a person dying from AIDS or a scientist researching a cure, each of us is part of a great mosaic of humanity. Homogeny is the death of creativity. Viva la difference!
The Howard work is astonishing, capturing the famous and not-so-famous — including Lewis Grizzard and Rev. Hosea Williams and that old green truck in Midtown long ago.
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