User:LKNK/sandbox

Gaylord Oscar Herron (Born April 11, 1942) is an American photographer, writer and painter best known for his book, Vagabond (1975). His work focuses on a variety of subjects ranging from architecture, portraiture, and street photography.

Career
After graduating from Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1957, he joined the army and was stationed in Korea for two years where he obtained his first camera and produced hundreds of silver gelatin prints in a dark room.

Upon his return to Tulsa in 1962, his father, Oscar Witt Herron died of emphysema. Gaylord subsequently packed up and went to New York, continuing to produce photographs now from Korea, Japan, Tulsa and New York.

Herron returned to Tulsa and after a brief stint at the University of Tulsa, dropped out to become a staff photographer at Tulsa Tribune. Covering the news and in his personal life, Herron was frequently in unexpected situations and to capture photographs.

While covering a sports event in 1968, Herron met Jim Webb (not to be confused with songwriter Jimmy Webb, who Herron photographed.) Jim Webb was a reporter for KOTV in Tulsa and gave Herron the opportunity to try his hand at collaborating on television interviews. The stories they produced were presented to the hiring managers at KOTV and Herron was offered and accepted a reporting position.

As reporter for KOTV news, Herron appeared on television five nights a week producing feature local interest pieces on Tulsans. Without formal education, Herron’s approach was non-traditional and artistic, inspired by journalists Hughes Rudd and Charles Kuralt.

Vagabond
In 1973, Tulsan and son of hotelier Mayo family, Dan Mayo offered Herron the opportunity to collaborate on and publish a book of his photography. Herron accepted the offer and quit his job as a KOTV reporter to do so full time.

The death of Herron’s father and the Biblical story of Cain and Abel inspired his experimental memoir, Vagabond, which was made over 1973 to 1975 with the financial and hands-on support of artist Dan Mayo and the friendship of painter Bill Rabon. Vagabond was created with master printer Sidney Rappaport over a series of six trips from Tulsa to New York. On the trips, Herron and Mayo stayed in the Chelsea Hotel and had encounters, interactions and collaborations with Salvador Dali, Cornell Capa, and more.

Vagabond was not well distributed for commercial sales but it was met with worldwide critical acclaim.

Photography Technique and Content
Spanning 1962 to 1999, Herron produced black and white film photographs using Nikon and Pentax cameras. He produced the bulk of his images in the darkroom himself using an Ektamatic machine. He also had many images developed at Engler Photography in Tulsa. He used film but later used paper negatives to save money. He created a camera which generated 8.5x11 paper negatives. He mounted his prints on archival stock, spending thousands of hours creating his massive archive.

Herron produced a variety of images from political and celebrity portraits of Richard Nixon, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, James Brown, The GAP Band, J.J. Cale, Leon Russell, Gailard Sartain, Jimmy Webb, as well as images of Tulsa for historic value.

He photographed architectural value in buildings by architects Donald Honn and Joseph Koeberling and defunct buildings such as the Medical Arts Building, Cimarron Ballroom, Rialto, Majestic, Delman, and Cozy Theaters, Mayo Hotel, Alvin Hotel, Cain’s Ballroom, historic markers such as Tulsa’s Council Oak Tree and more.

Herron photographed North Tulsa and Greenwood as well, creating some of the prime historic value prints from the 1960’s and 70’s of the area. He captured streets, railroads, portraits of people, and images he felt represented progress in race relations. Herron also photographed a warehouse next to Oak Lawn Cemetery in 1971 where he believed the bodies from the Tulsa Race Massacre were buried. Following his photograph over the next 30 years, the warehouse was demolished and a Home Depot and a highway were built. In 2020, archeological crews are digging in that area next to the highway in the cemetery, but he believes the bodies would have been further West (under the highway) due to the location of the warehouse he believes was used in the burial of the bodies in 1921.

Herron’s bold personality helped him capture photographs, many of which were met with unenthusiastic or angry subjects.

Herron enjoyed capturing “non-events” and street photography.

Herron also photographed his personal life including his family members, childhood homes, and favorite trees.

As a Painter
In addition to photography, Herron practiced as a self-taught oil painter. He was inspired largely by Henri Rousseau and generated approximately 30 oil paintings between 1970-1977, many of which appear in his book, Vagabond.

Following the death of his wife, Judy in 2019, Herron began producing new works on paper using brown craft paper and black ink. He created loose shapes, comparing his technique to Jackson Pollack, then later using his lifelong developed technique of finding faces and objects within the shapes and accentuating them with ink or pastel overlays. He created upwards of 100 of these works.

As an Architect
Herron enrolled in the University of Tulsa twice in the 1960’s to study architecture but dropped out both times to pursue photography media jobs and the military. He had a passion for architectural design and historic preservation and made contributions to those fields in non-traditional ways.

In 1969, he purchased his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma which was designed by architect Donald Honn.

He contributed to saving many important structures and nature preserves including (but not limited to) the Tulsa Union Depot building, Redbud Valley Nature Preserve with Fannie Mae, the

He designed and built a private residence for Dan Mayo at 2712 South Gary Drive in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

His favorite architect is Joseph Koeberling. Herron photographed many Koeberling structures, including the Medical Arts Building in Tulsa, an art deco masterpiece which was later demolished.

Comparisons to Larry Clark
As a child, Herron knew photographer Larry Clark, and claims they wrestled in their mutual friend Buster’s backyard after church.

Larry Clark’s book of photography reached critical acclaim and commercial success, launching Larry into a photography and film career in 1970.

Herron commented, “With Vagabond, I wasn’t trying to compete. I was trying to show a different Tulsa.”

Involvement in Rumble Fish
In the early 1980's, Francis Ford Coppola was in Tulsa for the creation of Rumble Fish. Due to his photography collection, Herron was tapped by Copppla for inspiration, learning about Tulsa and his images. Herron was filmed as a police officer in a scene that was later deleted from the final film.

Bicycles
Beginning in 1993, Herron became interested in working with bicycles through his son, Jason, who was working at a bicycle shop at the time. Herron subsequently opened his own bicycle shop offering sales and service of refurbished vintage and new bicycles. He named his shop G. Oscar Bicycle and it is still open.

G. Oscar Bicycle is housed in the former Bob Hawks Photography Studio where Herron worked for Hawks as a young photographer in the 1960’s.

Personal Life
Aside from his trips abroad for the military and stints in New York for the creation of Vagabond, Herron lived in Tulsa his whole life. He was married to Judy Herron for 50 years before her passing in August of 2019. They have two children, Jason and Kathryn, and 8 grandchildren.