Steve Schapiro was a photojournalist and social documentarian who witnessed — and captured — some of the most significant cultural and political moments in modern American history. Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere traces the firsthand stories of Schapiro’s life and work while exploring his vast archive of iconic images spanning six decades.

Schapiro began his career documenting addiction in East Harlem before traveling alone to Arkansas to photograph migrant workers in 1961. When The New York Times published one of his migrant-worker photos on its magazine cover, Schapiro was launched into a prolific career with Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, People, and Paris Match.

His lens captured some of the most influential artists, activists, and historical figures of the 20th century, including Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Bill Evans, and Samuel Beckett. He documented Robert F. Kennedy’s final Christmas with his family and photographed pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement.

In the 1970s, as photojournalism shifted, Schapiro turned to motion pictures. Working with major studios, he shot iconic images and publicity stills for The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Chinatown, The Way We Were, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The film is both an intimate portrait of a legendary photographer and an expansive tour through the people and events that shaped the last sixty years.