Gordon Brooks, the legendary press and studio photographer and newspaper co-founder, who captured historic Barbadian moments and the storied triumph and trials of West Indies cricket has died at the age of 81.
Brooks died in hospital on Tuesday after a brief illness.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley, grieving the death of her brother Warren Mottley the same day, led tributes to the veteran photographer along with the Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Workers (BARJAM) and the National Cultural Foundation.
Mottley said the veteran photographer whose career dates back to the mid-1950s made a name for himself and Barbados with some of the finest photography particularly in his coverage of cricket.
The Prime Minister said: “Working often with another icon of international cricket reporting, the late Tony Cozier, Gordon always operated at the top of his game, all the time maintaining a quiet, affable and respectable personality. Indeed, while he did not wear the whites of the West Indies team, Gordon, from behind his lens, was always the quintessential gentleman of cricket. And, I may add, of life.
“But even without his camera, Gordan’s contribution to Barbados cannot be minimized. As a long-standing director of the Nation Publishing Co. Limited, he worked to raise the standard of journalism in Barbados while building what has become a potent symbol of the power of Black business in Barbados and the Caribbean.”
Brooks who developed his eye for photography with his father Clarence Brooks and Cyprian LaTouche Sr started his career at the Barbados Advocate as a photoengraver in 1955.
His unique style and remarkable technique led to a fast rise as an international cricketer photographer particularly after his first overseas assignment, the England tour of 1994 right down to his last in Australia in 2009. He passed the baton of both the near 50-year-old Brooks-LaTouche studio and cricket photography to sons Enrico and Randy and LaTouche’s daughter Kim Dewer, a long-time employee.
BARJAM said Brooks’ passing has left a gaping hole in the world of cricket photography.
In a statement, the association said: “Brooks, whose name was last year attached to one of the national media awards offered to eligible persons by the Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Workers (BARJAM) for excellence in photography, will be remembered for his creative eye in capturing the ‘perfect’ images on the field of cricket.
In a personal tribute, veteran journalist and BARJAM General Secretary Emmanuel Joseph recalled Brooks was always pleasant and endearing, easy to get along with and often shared instructive words.
“I can honestly say that from a professional and personal point of view, he impacted my life in a meaningful way and I will remember him for those times, he said. “Barbados and the world have lost a great man and an exceptional visual artist.”
Away from the long lens, Brooks who was awarded the Silver Crown of Merit for his contribution to photography, published the book Caught in Action which covered West Indies cricket through his photos between 1980 and 2000.
The National Cultural Foundation also said it was “deeply saddened by Brooks’ death, describing him as one of the island’s foremost press photographers for decades.
Brooks who by the 1970s had firmly established his career as a press and studio photographer became a founding member of the Nation Publishing Co. in 1973 and remained on the board of directors until 2016.
His relationship with founding editor-in-chief Harold Hoyte went back to their early days in journalism at The Advocate with the Friday nightlife and entertainment weekly, Calypso.
“Our friendship started from there, and then with the advent of the Nation, our friendship grew to the extent that when I was in Bay Street and he was living in Chelsea Road, we had the unique thing of carpooling. I would take his children to school one week and the next he would take mine,” Brooks said.
He attributed his cricket photography career to Hoyte who died in 2019.
“He was instrumental in my first trip outside of the West Indies in 1984, taking cricket photographs in England. It wasn’t budgeted for but he decided that it was really worth it to allow me to join Tony Cozier, who was already assigned for the international television coverage,” Brooks recalled.
“It was a first for a West Indian newspaper and a landmark thing for the Nation to have its own photographer covering a Test match in England.
“He was a fantastic editor and a real gentleman. We had a very good rapport. He loved cricket and one of his idols was Lawrence Rowe after he made 302 at Kensington Oval.”
Born in the early weeks of the Second World War on September 28 1939, Gordon Brooks was the fourth of nine children born to Clarence and Elmont Brooks of Back Ivy, St. Michael.
Educated at St. Giles Boy’s School, Brooks joined the Advocate in 1955, working first in the Stereotype Department, then moving to Photoengraving. By 1960 he had found a niche in photography, honing his skills under the mentor of Ciprian La Touche Senior and Paul Mandeville.
Leaving the Advocate, Brooks established Brooks La Touche Photography in partnership with Ciprian “Junior” LaTouche on September 27, 1971.
The studio, first located in Upper Bay Street, has been established at Pine Road, Belleville since 1977, specialising in a range of life and commercial photography and photo restoration services.
Brooks leaves to mourn his wife Ira and their daughter Dr Makeeba Brooks and sons Enrico and Randy. (SD)
