HUNTINGTON - At age 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jose Galvez carried his shoe shining equipment into the newsroom of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, beginning a legacy that would lead him to achieve the ultimate peak of journalism.
Galvez spoke to a reporter this week about his life and career. He will deliver a lecture and present an exhibit of his works at 7 p.m. tonight in the Shawkey Room on Marshall University's Huntington campus. The event, sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Department of Foreign Languages, is open to students, faculty and members of the community.
Galvez was the first member of his family to own a camera, which he purchased from a pawnshop at age 12.
"There were few pictures taken when I was growing up," he said. "It was a sad ironic thing of life. I don't have any photos of my mom and dad together."
He enrolled in a photography elective course in high school, where he snapped countless images for the yearbook.
Soon, his responsibilities in the Daily Star newsroom expanded: Galvez began running errands, writing opinion pieces and answering phones for the staff.
Galvez pursued a degree in journalism at the University of Arizona, focusing on reporting and dabbling in photojournalism courses. After graduation, the Star offered him two options of employment: Galvez could be a reporter or a staff photographer. In an effort to escape specialized beat reporting and further develop his skills, he chose the latter.
"Photographers get to do it all," he said. "You're called upon to photograph celebrities or little kids running through a sprinkler or a football game or an in-depth investigation. Back then, there was so much going on."
In addition to the Black Power movement, the Latino and Chicano crusade had taken root: predominantly on the southern West Coast. Being Mexican-American, Galvez was compelled to not only participate in marches, but document the demonstrations as well.
"We'd be out on weekends picketing or marching in the streets, and I took my camera with me," he said. "My first pictures were on the Chicano movement and my family, but they're a little rough and not well-composed."
By his early twenties, Galvez had developed an understanding of photojournalism, and photographing the Chicano movement confirmed his abilities.
"It was my territory and beat. I know it," he said. "I've experienced this."
Through documentary work, Galvez became a keen observer of his surroundings.
He'd won a number of state and national photo contests, but he wanted to see how good he really was and he wanted to see if he could make it elsewhere, he said.
Galvez mailed resumes to newspapers across the country. His print portfolios were sent only after a response was returned: a process that took several years. The help of two former Star editors landed him a big break in 1980 with the Los Angeles Times.
"I was actually a minority hire," he said. "The L.A. Times was trying to beef up their Latino reporting and when they asked for a Latino photographer, the former Star editors suggested me."
Galvez became the L.A. Times' first Mexican-American photographer.
California's massive Latino population also guaranteed endless opportunities for feature works, he said. At the time, the representation of Mexican-American culture in the Times had been reserved for crime and violence: which caused uproar among the 15 Latino staff members.
"We were a little frustrated with the Times because they didn't let us cover Latinos in-depth," he said. "Eventually, the senior editors convinced them to do so, and we had an outline of what we wanted covered."
A 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning series developed out of the oppression: which included five months' worth of reporting and photography on Latino politics, sports and traveling to connect families to their Latino roots.
"We did a farm-worker's story, opinion stories, and the newspaper submitted it for the Pulitzer and it was awarded the next year," Galvez said.
A staff photograph shows the Times journalists who contributed to the award-winning series all were of Latino descent.
"We were the first Latinos to win that award," Galvez paused. "Why weren't there others before us? Newspapers across the United States began beefing up their minority staff, and our organization [the National Association of Hispanic Journalists] was the jump starter."
Although Galvez has received countless awards, he said his greatest achievement as a photographer was developing relationships with his subjects.
"The fact that I'm trusted by those I photograph and can tell their stories through images to educate the non-Hispanics ... is my continuing accomplishment," he said.
For young photojournalists entering the field, Galvez offered a word of advice:
"Be careful with digital technology. Wait for the image to happen and wait for it to be just right," he said. "People also need to take nice sentimental photographs of family and just observe."
Galvez also suggested steering clear of the traditional posed photographs, particularly for journalists.
"Take a picture of your parents from a distance and photograph your grandparents' dresser and your little siblings asleep in the backseat after a day at the river," he said. "Make it a story. People don't take stories anymore, and that's a shame."