We are celebrating outstanding women throughout Women’s History Month, which is this month of March. This week, we’re shining the spotlight on Phyllis Sims, photographer extraordinaire.
Whenever I think about Phyllis Sims, I can see her in my mind, and she always has a photography camera in her hands. She’s a short little lady with a bright, positive attitude, and she is a consummate professional. Phyllis Sims couldn’t help but be professional in her demeanor and in every way because her mother instilled in her everything she needed to meet with success.
Sims says, “prior to taking on photography as a full-time career, I worked for my mother for many years, in her public relations firm, Juanita Sims and Company, located in Center City. For a Black person to own a business in Center City back in the 50s and 60s, that was a big deal. I also worked for a number of years for Dr. Keith Anderson, a well-known African American Dentist who was located in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. He was also the Director of Surgery for Temple University School of Dentistry. While working for Dr. Anderson, I juggled my budding photography career.
“I really started taking photos while working for my mother is when. I just didn’t realize back then that it was going to turn into a career for me. The first photograph I took of famous people, I was working for my mom. We were at Chicken-Bone Beach in Atlantic City, and I was asked to snap some shots of Carmen McCrae and Sara Vaughn with the little brownie camera. Vera Gunn and my mother were good friends, and she had been observing my photography work for a little while. When my mother passed, Vera Gunn really took me under her wing, and she encouraged me to pursue photography, telling me I had a “good eye.” She’s the one who put it in my head to check in with the Editor of the Philadelphia Tribune to see if they could use my services. I did, and the Editor at the Tribune at that time was pleased with my work. Lynn Washington was one of the editors I worked with at the Tribune.”
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Thank you for reading Thera Martin’s article on scoopnewsusa.com. For more on “Saluting Philadelphia Photo-Journalist Extraordinaire Phyllis Sims”, please subscribe to SCOOP USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital, and VIZION) are $90. (52 weeks / 1 year).
