James Karales

James H. Karales (July 15, 1930, Canton, Ohio – April 1, 2002, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.) was an American photographer and photo-essayist best known for his work with Look magazine from 1960 to 1971. At Look he covered the Civil Rights Movement throughout its duration, taking many of the movements memorable photographs, including those of the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family. Karales's single best known image is the iconic photograph of the Selma to Montgomery march showing people proudly marching along the highway under a cloudy turbulent sky.

Career Karales was born in Ohio to a family of Greek immigrants. Although he initially enrolled in Ohio University with the intention of majoring in electrical engineering, Karales switched his major to photography after watching his roommate in the darkroom.

James Karales' estate is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York.

Civil rights documentation [Karales's 1965 photograph] may very well be the seminal image to come out of the civil rights marches in the South. It is an amazing combination of movement and shadow. It looks like they are marching out of the Red Sea. — Taylor Branch, author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, 2002 interview, Los Angeles Times Later, he documented Dr. King's family life after being given unprecedented access in 1962–63, publishing photographs showing Dr. King explaining to his daughter Yolanda why they could not go to an amusement park and interacting with other noted figures, including Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. (also published in paperback, )