By: DeMill Dixon
My photography and documentary journey didn’t start when I was a kid in Nashville, Tenn.; it began with the introduction to my Dad’s Polaroid Instamatic camera. That’s how he – and I, when he let me use it – documented our family events; we have the bulging scrapbooks to prove it. When I was about 12 my Aunt Patti gave me a 35mm film camera. I had no idea about composition, f-stops or shutter speeds. My friends, sports, video games and female classmates claimed more of my attention.
Back in the film days you had to make every shot count due to the limited number of shots on the roll and the cost of getting film developed. I learned how photos forged that visual link to our family from my maternal Grandmother Ida in Chicago. She had a load of family albums and was very protective of her photos. When family came over to visit, they’d pore through the books of photos. If they wanted a copy, they gave her money for processing.
Inspiration also came from my parents’ Ebony, Jet, Essence and GQ magazines. All that black beauty, style and pride from people who looked like me was no joke! When I got my hands on Sports Illustrated I looked at the photos more than I read the articles. I was drawn in by the crisp action shots of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Mike Tyson, John McEnroe, Bo Jackson, Tony Dorsett, George Brett and Ozzie Smith. When I read hip hop magazines like The Source and Word Up! I wanted to emulate the skills of the fashion photographers who shot the ads for clothing brands like Mecca, Pelle Pelle, Tommy Hilfiger, Karl Kani and Cross Colours.
Tennessee State University, Vol State Community College and Nashville Tech led me to Rust College for my freshman year in 1997-98. There I befriended Kevin Broadnax, or Prince Nax, from East St. Louis, Ill. Kevin was returning to get his bachelor’s degree after a stint at Rust College in the early 1980s. He was a mass communications major with a background in photography and video.
Kevin taught me the fundamentals of photography using his Canon SLR film camera. I watched him develop film in the darkroom and, with Paula Clark of the public relations department, went with him to campus events like banquets, step shows and graduations. Kevin even took photos of me and my students when I was tutoring and teaching at the Holly Springs Primary School.
Gerald White, who has a photography studio in Holly Springs, also played a part in developing my photography skills. Gerald taught me how to light a subject and pose models. As I was using a Kodak point-and-shoot camera, Gerald encouraged me upgrade my gear. I bought my first DSLR, an Olympus e10, in 2007. I started out wanting to do portrait and studio photography but because I didn’t have a studio I started to shoot parties, baby showers, graduations, sporting events and candids. Anyone celebrating anything was fair game.
With the help of my mentors, I learned to tell a story with photos. I’d spotted the work of Jamel Shabazz in The Source and studied his book Back in the Days, a collection of photos of people in New York City during the 1980s. I was also drawn to the work of Henry Clay Anderson, whose photos documented African Americans in the 1950s Mississippi Delta.
As an alternative to the impressions of the region we see in the media, I use photography to memorialize events as I see them through the viewfinder. It is my way to capture pride in the “Dirty South” and let the rest of the country know what this region is like through the photos of someone who is not just passing through.
His Bachelors of Science degree from Rust College has allowed him to teach elementary school and after school tutoring programs. Working as a part time photojournalist with the South Reporter Newspaper gives him access to document various life events in the south. He enjoys playing sports, going to sporting events, doing biological (african/ african american) family tree research, live concerts, plays and car shows. He resides in Holly Springs, MS.
