David Parks (photographer)

David Parks is an American photographer, film director, publicist, and author. He is the son of the late photographer and director Gordon Parks.

Early life and Military service
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, David Parks attended the Storm King School in Cornwall On Hudson, New York and Ricker College in Houlton, Maine. In 1965 he began a two year tour in the U.S. Army, including eight months in combat in the Vietnam War for which he was awarded two Purple Hearts. After his military service he attended and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied film and photo illustration.

Works
David Parks has two published books to his credit. His first book, GI Diary, is a collection of writings and photographs documenting his experience as an African American soldier in the Vietnam War. Published in 1968 by Harper & Row, GI Diary became one of the top ten best-selling books of that year; the book is included in the Howard University Press Classic Editions, Library of African American Literature and Criticism. His photographs illustrate a collection of poems entitled On Our Way: Poems of Pride and Love, published by Random House in 1974.

In addition to his books, Parks' photographs have been published in Time-Life Art/Photography Books as well as Ebony, Look, Vogue, and Glamour magazines.

David Parks' feature film credits include His Beauty for My Ashes (editor for United States distribution), Leadbelly (assistant to producer), Super Fly (assistant to director), Shaft (production assistant, special photographer), and The Great White Hope (production assistant, special photographer).

Parks documentary/short film credits include Buffalo Soldiers, 9th Cavalry Memorial (director), Texas Artists Pilot Projects: Martin Kramer and Ralph White (director), Jose Antonio Navarro House (director), African Art and Repression (director), and Prince Charles: A Texas Celebration (director), among others.