Timeline: The Life of John Running
This timeline provides an overview of John Running’s life and photographic career. It shows his major editorial and commercial projects, as well as his books, articles, magazine covers and photographic exhibits.
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1939
Born in Buffalo, New York.
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1953
Travels across the country with Boy Scouts; visits the Southwest for the first time.
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1957
Graduates from high school.
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1960
Trades the shotgun his father got him for his twelfth birthday for a camera.
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1961
Joins the U.S. Marines. He trains in North Carolina, serves in the Mediteranean, Caribbean, and is stationed in Trinidad.
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1964
Honorably discharged from the U.S. Marines; Marries Helen Lau, whom he met in Trinidad.
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1965
Moves to Flagstaff and enrolls at Northern Arizona University to study anthropology. Daughter Raechel is born.
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1966
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1967
Begins work at the United States Geological Society and serves an apprenticeship under Walt Roeder in the film documentation unit.
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1967
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1969
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1970
Leaves the USGS and begins his freelance career.
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1973
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1977
After first returning to Trinidad in 1974, he travels again in 1977 to make photographs for the Children, Families, and the Sea book series. In 1979, Lester is published featuring photographs from his trips to Trinidad. The same year, Running's photographs from Baja illustrate the book Gilberto. These books for children about life near the sea are written by Sarah and Peter Dixon.
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1979
Photographs the Big Mountain Navajo re-location resistance. In this work, he formed long-lasting relationships with many of the Navajo he photographed. He returned to them as subjects throughout his career. The experience also led him to photograph other Native Americans in the years that followed.
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1980
Together with Sue Bennett, Running travels to Occupied Palestine and Jordan to photograph Palestinians living in the occupied territories and in refugee camps. They return to the Middle East in 1982 to continue that project.
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1980
Dancer is published. Written by Suzanne Merry, the book documents Celeste Jabczenski's life as a member of the Joffery II, a preparatory ballet company in New York. Running began photographing Jabczenski when she was a dancer in Arizona and continued the project when she went to New York.
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1980
Twice during this year, Running and Bennett travel to the Sierra Madre in Mexico to photograph the Tarahumara. They visit at Easter and Christmas. In 1984, they make a third trip.
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1983
Running and Bennett exhibit their photographs of Palestinians at the United Nations Church Center in New York City.
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1983-1988
Travels around the United States photographing Native Americans at pow wows and rodeos for the annual Coors Indian Heritage Calendar.
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1985
Honor Dance: Native American Photographs published. The book features photographs of Navajo, Hopi, Tarahumara, and Native Americans of the Northern Plains, the Wind River, the Rio Grande.
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1986
Begins work on "Sensuality of Strength" series, photographing strong, fit women, and body builders.
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1986
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1987
Halo of the Sun is published. Written by Noel Bennett with photographs by Running, the book tells Navajo legends with stories of Noel Bennett's experiences living on the reservation.
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1988
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1990
Pictures for Solomon published. The book examines the relationships that Running formed with his subjects and features photographs from Palestine, Trinidad, and Mexico.
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1990-2009
Photographs album covers for Canyon Records, a Phoenix, AZ independent record label producing Native American music.
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1990s
Working with different corporations such as Sterling Commerce and Justin Industries, Running photographs executives and workers for annual reports and other corporate publications. This image comes from Justin Industries' 1997 Annual Report.
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1992
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1994
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1998
Photographs featured in advertisements for Nikon. Running had almost exclusively used Nikons since 1967, when he won one in a photography contest.
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2001
As homage to Paul Strand, Running travels to Scotland to photograph the people and landscapes of the Outer Hebrides Islands.
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2003
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2007
Running creates his "Genetic Imprints" series, offering further exploration and celebration of the female form.
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2009
Flagstaff Photography Center hosts Running's 40 Year Retrospective.
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2011
Receives Flagstaff's Viola Award, Mayor's Award for Lifetime Contributon to the Arts.
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2012
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2013
John Running donates his life's work to Northern Arizona University Cline Library Special Collections and Archives. Running's photographs, negatives, born-digital images, journals and other materials will be cared for and made available for researchers in the future.
