Eli Reed

Ellis (Eli) Reed (born 1946) is an American photographer and photojournalist. Reed was the first full-time black photographer at Magnum Agency and is the author of several books, including Beirut: City of Regrets and Black In America.

Early life and education Reed was raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. but attributes his direction as a photographer to mentor Donald Greenhaus rather than to formal studies. In 1982–83 he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, studying political science and urban affairs at the Kennedy School of Government.

Career Reed became a freelance photographer in 1970.

While a Nieman Fellow, he made his first journey to Beirut to photograph the Lebanese Civil War; he returned there several times and was once mistaken for a militant and kidnapped. In 1988 he published Beirut: City of Regrets.

Reed has also worked as a still photographer for the film industry, and is a member of the Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers.

Awards 1992 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Documentary Photography 1992 Kodak World Image Award for Fine Art Photography 1988 World Press Photo award 1988 Leica Medal of Excellence 1983 Overseas Press Club Award 1982 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard 1981 Mark Twain Associated Press Award 1981 Pulitzer Prize, runner-up 2011 Lucie Foundation Award for Documentary Photography

Exhibitions

1973, The Black Photographer, Syracuse University 1973, New Jersey Photographs 1975, New Jersey Prisons, Newark Museum of Art 1975, The Whole Sick Crew, Newark-Rutgers University 1993, Visa pour l'image, Perpignan, France 1996, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut (first major solo exhibition by a living artist) 1997, Leica Gallery, New York 1997, Magnum World exhibition and catalogue 1999, Black New York Photographers of the 20th Century Exhibition, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 2000, Indivisible 2000, Reflections in Black, and A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present, Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D. C. 2014, Eli Reed Retrospective, A Long Walk Home, Leica Gallery, New York 2014, 2015, Visa pour l'image Festival Du Photoreportage, Perpignan, France

Publications John Singleton, Poetic Justice: Film Making South Central Style. United States: Delta, 1993. Tom Rankin, Local Heroes Changing America, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. Homeless in America, 1987. Black in America, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997. Beirut: City of Regrets, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988. A Long Walk Home, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015.

Films

Production 1988 America's Children: Poorest in the Land of Plenty, photo essay for NBC. 1992 Getting Out, director, produced for Tokyo TV, shown at the New York Film Festival

Specials/stills 1991 The Five Heartbeats, stills, directed by Robert Townsend 1992 Poetic Justice, stills, directed by John Singleton 1994 Higher Learning, stills, directed by John Singleton 1995 Kansas City, stills and specials, directed by Robert Altman 1996 Rosewood, stills, directed by John Singleton 1996 Ghost of Mississippi, specials, directed by Rob Reiner 1996 Day of the Jackal, stills and specials, directed by Michael Caton-Jones 1998 One True Thing, still photographer, directed by Carl Franklin 2000 Shaft, still photographer, directed by John Singleton 2001 Baby Boy, still photographer, directed by John Singleton 2001 A Beautiful Mind, still photographer, directed by Ron Howard 2002 8 Mile, still photographer, directed by Curtis Hanson 2002 Two Weeks Notice, still photographer, directed by Marc Lawrence 2003 2 Fast 2 Furious, still photographer, directed by John Singleton 2005 Stay, still photographer, directed by Marc Forster 2014 One Hundred Years of Freedom, video and still photographer, directed by Daniel Ostroff 2017 Natasha, still photographer, directed by David Bezmozgis