AP photographer Kathy Willens has retired, reflecting on her career

When Kathy Willens he graduated from college, mostly refusing to starve as an artist. Instead, she became a photographer and worked for the Associated Press for nearly 45 years, winning several awards for her coverage of recent, general news, features, sports, fashion, and celebrities.

When Willens started, there were very few women photojournalists working with him, and the whole industry was analogous: photographers were developing their own film and typing their feet on typewriters. By the end of Willens ’career, there were 95,000 of his images AP Images website.

When Willens retired and spent two weeks (“I didn’t have a moment to relax!” He said) talking about sports photography, long lenses, and covering sports, the president, and Mariel’s boats was what it was like. .

How did you get into photography?

My career began in 1974. I worked on a small pink tabloid called Spine Column – it was literally pink. It was the paper that people would use to cover the bottom of the bird cage. He was from the suburbs, beyond the neighborhood, outside of Detroit, where I grew up. It seemed like the most viable career opportunity for photography. In my first job, I thought I’d take $ 50 out of the photo; in the end it was $ 5.

I received a tip from Miami News looking for a lab technician. I finally got that job [later] 1974an. I worked there for six months when a staff member left me and I joined as a full-time photographer. Miami was very different from when I grew up. I ended up taking things like resurrecting tents on the I-95 and taking pictures of a murder scene, probably silly contaminating evidence, but there was no police yet. But those images made the front page, or showed it significantly. In late 1976, the local photo editor at the Associated Press made me an offer to replace a retired employee, and I worked for them for nearly 45 years.

What were the big stories of the day?

One of the things he spoke to me about were stories about Haitian and Cuban immigrants that were horrible and ongoing. It all happened in 1980, it was a crazy year. There was no other year like this, except for now. That year was transformative for me and for everyone else in Miami. There were the 1980 McDuffie riots, and then the Cuban one Mariel boat lift. [The McDuffie riots] The deaths of a black man were the result of the acquittal of four white police officers. That first night many people died as a result of violence and chaos. I couldn’t get out of the office for photos, the phone rang all night and I answered. I arrived J. Scott Applewhite, then self-employed, who was photographed for AP.

And Haitian immigration and migration stories. These were very close to me. I was approached by an enterprising Haitian priest Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, and gave me great access to tell these refugee stories. These photos are very close to me, but some of them were never shown. Before I left, I left it to the Associated Press to save it for scanning in archives.

Hurricane Andrew was a big story in Miami as well. Latin America has always been a great story. Nicaragua, the Iran-Contra scandal and Oliver North. I also went to El Salvador. when I transferred to [AP’s] I moved to the New York office in 1993, Somalia, and that was utter chaos when I was there. It was the same year Black Hawk Down event. AP journalist from Somalia Tina Susman, was kidnapped, and three weeks after leaving Somalia, the photographer who replaced me was killed. When I got back, I valued what I wanted to do. I felt like he was very close to me. And I chose to stay closer to home, which is to shoot more news and sports.

I imagine the gender dynamics of the 1970s were different.

It was very different. I was so young, and I was surrounded by middle-aged men, older than middle-aged. There were two women photographers in Florida, Mary Lou Foy At the Miami Herald and Ursula Seemann at the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. There were a lot of expectations placed on me. If nothing happened, I was hoping to get the women out on the beach in Miami. I found a woman wearing the poorest bikini I could find, and she took her picture, printed it out, and blew it up and put it on our office wall and told everyone that she was the LAST woman I would take a picture of. a bikini. It was free for women, and I found it unacceptable to ask for that.

When I practiced sports, I was almost always the only woman on the field. There was no model for me, but overall I was looking at a war photographer Susan Meiselas, even though he was probably younger than me. I also studied portraits and photojournalism Annie Leibovitz and by the hand of street photography Helen Levitt.

What made the sport hold you back, and what was it like to cover Muhammad Ali?

I covered Ali 5th Street Gym Miami. It’s similar Gleason Gym New York City. I [had] he never covered a game of his because they were all over the world and I was low on the totem. He was about to end his career when I met him. The AP would always send people with more seniority — men, I would add.

It was fun to be a part of that culture. My then-boyfriend was a great sports journalist, so I received advice on all things. For me, sport has the ability to capture those moments of extreme emotion. Joy is there in front of you all the time. It is so ubiquitous and compact in a short period of time. He also made great pictures. I always had to learn anywhere. My second AP in Miami, Phillip K. Sandlin, was very good at capturing those moments. It had a long lens, the longest lens, like the equivalent of 500mm-600mm. I would watch him process and edit his film, and I would try to emulate that. He accused me of taking too many pictures. He would pull out a roll of 36 and maybe have four or five great pictures. I would have to shoot six or seven times more to get a good picture.

How do you feel when you leave the industry?

I think the profession is in very good hands now. We are in this time of re-evaluation, where women, women of color, and a wide variety of photographers in general are being explored and introduced. It’s awesome. The profession is changing, and there may not be much pay. I don’t know if it’s easier or harder to promote yourself in apps and social media. But there are so many more opportunities for women than when I came, and people are taking advantage of it. I think that’s a very good sign.