As long as I can remember, my grandmother, Nan, subscribed to Life magazine. One of my first memories of photography is flipping those pages, transfixed by Gordon Parks’ black-and-white and color images of the textures of real people. Parks was Life’s first Black photographer. He was a Midwest guy who, like me, didn’t go to school to learn his craft.
Listen to the interview edition here:
Parks got his first job by going into a White-owned women’s fashion store and telling them he could record their looks for them. It was the 1940s, and they gave him a shot — which was unusual for his day — and that gave him confidence. Soon he had a portfolio together that he took all the way to Life magazine in New York City. Those editors just shooed him away, telling him they didn’t hire Black people, only they didn’t use the word “Black.” Before he walked away, he left his portfolio. An editor picked it up, started flipping through it, and told him to come back. From there, history was made.
Parks famously called his camera his “weapon of choice.” Photographs were how he humanized a whole portion of Americans, how he fought against the paradigm of racism and intolerance. The weapon comparison always rang a bell with me. When I got my first camera in 2009, I said to myself: I’ve seen a lot of things, the crack era, violence, drugs and all that, but I’m going to show the world what it doesn’t see, the joy, the life, the culture of Philadelphia neighborhoods. What resonated with me was what I knew firsthand: kids playing outside on the street, riding their bikes, running around, splashing in a pool outside their house, playing wall ball.
My first streetgazing photo shoots were me riding around in my car, or on my vintage bike, through West Philly, Grays Ferry, Rittenhouse, Market East, East Passyunk. I have vivid memories of when and where I was when I took each one of these images — and would love to do a gallery show of them. To me, they are records of history, Philadelphia neighborhood history, the places where trends start, the birthplaces of so much.
THE BLOCK PARTY
I took the photo of the girl with the water plug at a block party at 54th and Springfield in Southwest Philly with 400 Kodak Ektar film, with my 35 millimeter camera. When I got that negative and that print, it was like: Whoa. That is a moment right there.
The one of the little boy in his cutoff dungarees falling into a dunk tank is classic Philly summertime too. That was 2011.
THE BARBERSHOP
I was waiting to get my hair cut in Mantua and saw twin boys, Steven and Daniel Grandy, with their dad, who was getting a shampoo. You can look these boys up today, and they’re world-renowned boxers, the Grandy Twins. But here, they’re just babies, waiting for their dad, in a busy shop with men they’d grow up to be like.
The other shot is another child, older, getting an edge-up. I love how the striped cape stands out, and the perfectionist art of the barber.
OLD CITY
This image of kids following a woman in colonial dress is from a school trip to Independence Hall with my daughter’s class. It’s a scene you wouldn’t see many other places: the 18th-century costume, the city storefront and sidewalk, the kids following along.
THE PORCH LIFE
I love this series of girls playing outside in Grays Ferry. I rode by them on my bike, and they saw my camera and wanted to pose for me. They loved it.
This must have been 2009. I have a daughter, and girls around this age, maybe 9 or 10, are still playing pretend, riding scooters in the street, but they also want to be grown-up.
The image of the girl with the barrette in her hair and long nails that her mom must have put on her made me think: Hello, diva.
PLAYING BALL
I remember seeing these boys on Newkirk Street, one holding a football and loving their playful mood. With that street, that scene, the stop sign adds texture. This image is very Gordon Parks to me.
UPTOWN GIRL
This shot from Juniper and Chestnut streets outside the Wanamaker / Macy’s building in 2011 is all about the gaze of beauty. The man can’t resist looking longingly at a beautiful, styling woman, in her open-toe heels and nice patterned dress.
FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS
I was riding along 30th Street when I spotted this scene of Philly neighborhood life: a dad chilling, smoking a cigarette, wearing some flip-flops, while his daughter is waiting in the wings. There’s something timeless about it, but also of its time.
This shot is one of my prized possessions, another urban Philly summer scene, a kiddie pool on a sidewalk in front of a rowhouse on 28th Street between Moore and Mifflin. You can just tell it’s a hot day from looking.
FARM KIDS
Back in the day, from about 2010 to 2018, you could find me at the Rittenhouse Square Farmers Market at the Rambling Roots Farm booth, selling organic produce grown in Chester County. That was my spot. I often would bring my camera with me, and although I usually trained the lens onto stylish shoppers, I couldn’t resist snapping shots of children of vendors, with their genuine smiles, their overalls, kids from the country who came to the city for the day.
HOLDING HANDS
This is another one where I was channeling Gordon Parks, capturing real life emotions of parents just being human beings, dressing up their children, taking them out, and holding their hands to cross the street. For this shot, I bent low to make the adults faceless and capture the children in the foreground and background. While I was taking this photo, I was thinking: This is something Gordon Parks would capture.
West Philly born and raised with a slosh of Brooklyn, Big Rube partnered with Mitchell & Ness in 2000 to help make it a global brand marketing and selling high-end throwback jerseys. He has been photographing Philly since 2009, including in a Daily News Column from 2011 to 2017. He’s also a chef, preparing to open his own space in 2026.
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