Prominent photographer David Turnley's latest Facebook post has an inspiring life lesson about confidence, persistence and the kindness of strangers.
He shares a 1973 photo of himself alongside his twin brother, shot by their mom Elizabeth, to set up recollections of a career turning point at age 19.
David Turnley recalls his first trip to New York at 19 with a portfolio of work. (Facebook photo)
Turnley, who now lives in New York City, won a Pulitzer Prize during his 1980-98 time at the Detroit Free Press.
Below is an excerpt from "A Special Moment for David and Peter Turnley." See the black-and-white photo and full 580-word post at the link underneath to see why it earns more than 200 "likes" in half a day.
Our mother must have understood that this was a very special moment in the lives of her twin sons. After spending two years together, from the age of 17-19 documenting life on a one-block, inner- city working class street, McClellan St., I was elected . . . to take my first plane trip, to fly to New York City . . . to show the prints we had spent endless nights over these two years printing from our work documenting life on this street in our hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
When I arrived in NY, I asked the taxi to take me to an address for Magnum, as so many of the photographers who had inspired Peter and me, worked with this photography agency. When I arrived, a European gentleman met me at the door, and after introducing myself, I asked if someone could please look at our work.
He smiled with kindness and said, “we don’t really do that -- if you want to leave your work, someone will have a look and we will send it back to you in a couple of weeks”. I said honestly: “I am here for three days. If I could sit on that couch, if someone had five minutes over these next three days to look at our work it would mean so much to us.”
He smiled and said: “Please have a seat.” I sat and five minutes later, a woman came out and introduced herself as Lee Jones, the director of Magnum, and said: “Please come into my office”. She proceeded to begin to look at several dozen carefully printed and mounted prints from McClellan St.. After seeing about a dozen of the photographs, she stopped and looked at me with a smile and said: “You and your brother have what it takes. Please give me a minute. I want to make sure you get the right start in this business.” . . .
I flew home to Fort Wayne, Indiana, got off the plane to meet Peter, so excited to speak with him as we walked away from the airport. And neither of us have ever looked back. . . .
During the Free Press part of his illustrious career, Turnley documented South Africa under Apartheid rule from 1985-87, when he was based there. He then lived in Paris from 1987-97, covering the Persian Gulf War, revolutions in Eastern Europe, student uprisings in China and the Soviet Union's collapse.
He's a University of Michigan graduate who majored in French literature. Turnley won a 1990 Pulitzer Award for feature photography for images of uprisings in China and Eastern Europe.
Peter Turnley also became a noted photojournalist who worked for Newsweek, earned a Neiman Fellowship to Harvard in 2000 and has published six books -- including one in 2007 titled "McCllelan Street," with images from the teen project with his brother.
