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Biography of Carl MydansName: Carl MydansBirth Date: May 20, 1907 Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: photojournalist Carl Mydans Carl Mydans (born 1907) was an American photojournalist. He worked briefly for the Farm Security Administration during the 1930s documenting rural American life. In 1936 he joined the newly formed LIFE magazine where he became well known for his photographic coverage of World War II. He continued as a war photographer through the early 1970s.Carl Mydans was born in Boston on May 20, 1907. The family moved to Medford, Massachusetts, on the Mystic River where Carl went to high school and worked in the local boatyards after school and on weekends. He later became interested in journalism and worked as a free-lance reporter for several local newspapers. In 1930 he graduated from the Boston University School of Journalism.Mydans then moved to New York and, while working as a reporter for the "American Banker," began to study photography at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. In July 1935 his skill with the new 35mm "…showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Southeast Asia. In World War II he was a prisoner of the Japanese for 21 months. Always, he focussed his camera on the small human drama that revealed the larger story. He retired from Life in 1972 but continued to work for Time and other magazines.Carl Mydan's work has been displayed in various galleries throughout the United States. The New York Times Magazine featured his work, along with Alfred Eisenstaedt's and Joe Rosenthal's in May of 1995.Mydans called himself a "story-teller with pictures" and always maintained that he did not photograph war because he liked it, but because he thought it was important to make an historic record of his times. "Long after I am gone," he said, "I want people to be able to see and especially feel what I have seen and felt." Associated Works Life Magazine Further Reading Mydan's autobiography, More Than Meets the Eye (1959; Carl Mydans: Photojournalist (1985). |