Richard Saunders

Richard Saunders (1922–1987) was a Bermudian photographer of the 20th century. He was noted for his photojournalism work with Roy Stryker, as well as in publications such as Ladies Home Journal, Fortune, Ebony and Look, among others. Early life Richard Clive Saunders was born in 1922 in Hamilton, Bermuda. His interest in photography began at a young age. In 1930, at age eight, his family moved to the United States. At the outbreak of World War II, the family returned to Bermuda where Saunders worked as a photographer with the police department. During the 1940s, Saunders returned to the United States and began photography training at Brooklyn College and the New School for Social Research in New York City. He became friends with photographer and artist Gordon Parks, and acquired a job as a photographic lab technician, which enabled him to study and learn the techniques of the top photojournalists at Life magazine. Career In the early 1950s, Saunders was invited by Roy Stryker to join his team of top photojournalists in Pittsburgh to document the city's transition from a smoky milltown to a modern city. Saunders spent nearly two years there, living in the Hill District, where he "became part of the environment" and took four to five thousand photographs of the community. Many of his photos from this period are now part of the collection of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.