James Cobb Burke

Last updated

James Cobb Burke (1915-1964) was an American photographer and photojournalist. He was born in Shanghai in 1915 to Methodist missionary parents. The family settled in Macon, Georgia, and Burke studied English at Emory University, graduating in 1937. He also attended Princeton briefly, before becoming a newspaper reporter.

During WW2, he served Claire Chennault's 14th Air Force in Kunming, and published a book titled My Father in China. After the war, he stayed on in China and joined Time-Life magazine as a stringer in 1947. After the Communist takeover of China, he moved to India where he eventually became New Delhi bureau chief of Time-Life magazine. He switched from writing to photographic reporting in the mid-1950s. He is best known today for his photojournalism in the postcolonial subcontinent in the 1950s and 1960s, covering India, Pakistan and the rest of the region. He also traveled widely across Asia. His archives are available in Getty Images.

In October 1964, he slipped and fell to his death 60 miles north of Tezpur, Assam while trying to take a picture in the Himalayas. He was 49 years old and left behind a wife and three children. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

New Iberia, Louisiana City in Louisiana, United States

New Iberia is the largest city in and parish seat of Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately 21 miles southeast of Lafayette, and forms part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area in the region of Acadiana. The 2020 United States census tabulated a population of 28,555.

Robert Capa Hungarian American photographer

Robert Capa was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

<i>Life</i> (magazine) American magazine

Life was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography.

<i>Harpers Bazaar</i> American monthly womens fashion magazine

Harper's Bazaar is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly Harper's Bazar. Harper's Bazaar is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the style resource for "women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture". Since its debut in 1867, as the U.S.'s first fashion magazine, its pages have been home to talent such as the founding editor, author and translator Mary Louise Booth, as well as numerous fashion editors, photographers, illustrators and writers.

Paul Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. In the 1930s, he helped found the Photo League. His diverse body of work, spanning six decades, covers numerous genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

George Rodger was a British photojournalist noted for his work in Africa and for photographing the mass deaths at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the Second World War.

John Brian Brake was a photographer from New Zealand.

Jack Birns (1919–2008) was an American photographer. He was well known in photographic circles as an award-winning foreign correspondent for Life magazine, and in the commercial diving world as President of BIRNS Incorporated.

Arthur Rothstein American photojournalist

Arthur Rothstein was an American photographer. Rothstein is recognized as one of America's premier photojournalists. During a career that spanned five decades, he provoked, entertained and informed the American people. His photographs ranged from a hometown baseball game to the drama of war, from struggling rural farmers to US Presidents.

Patricia Bosworth was an American journalist and biographer, memoirist, and actress. She was a faculty member of Columbia University’s school of journalism as well as Barnard College, and was a winner of the Front Page Award for her journalistic achievement in writing about the Hollywood Blacklist. She died from COVID-19 complications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paul Haviland

Paul Burty Haviland was a French-American photographer, writer and arts critic who was closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession.

Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the Making of the President series.

Begum Para Indian actress

Begum Para was an Indian Hindi film actress who was active mostly in the 1940s and 1950s. After 50 years, she returned to films with her last role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (2007) as Sonam Kapoor's grandmother. In her times in 1950s, she was considered a glamour girl of Bollywood, so much so, that Life magazine had a special session with her devoted to her fine sensuous photographs.

Anne Gunning

Anne Gunning was an Irish fashion model. Originally a house model for Sybil Connolly, she gained global recognition after being featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1953. She was one of the top models of the 1950s.

Dmitri Kessel was a photojournalist and staff photographer on Life magazine known for his courageous coverage of war on the front line, including reports on the liberation of Europe and conflict in the Congo

Lisa Larsen (1925-1959) was a pioneering woman photojournalist.

<i>In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter</i> 2013 documentary film

In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter is a 2013 documentary film about the photographer Saul Leiter directed and produced by Tomas Leach.

James R. Shepley American author and historian

James Robinson Shepley was an American journalist and businessman who was president of Time Inc. from 1969 to 1980 and was CEO of The Washington Star from 1978 until the paper was shut down in 1981. Shepley was given credit for having expanded Time Inc. into different areas of publishing and into television and video.

References

  1. "The Photography of James Burke". LIFE. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  2. "U.S Photographer Dies in 800‐Foot F all in India; Burke, of Life Magazine, Slips on Himalaya Cliff; Former Reporter Abandoned Typewriter for Camera". The New York Times. 1964-10-03. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-08-17.