"In 'It Was Always About the Work: A Photojournalist's Memoir,' award-winning photojournalist Melvin Grier tells the influences and circumstances that led him to tell stories through the camera. Over the last six decades, his work has vividly portrayed community, humanity, irony, fear, war, elegance, art, and most notably, the unexpected. With more than 100 black-and-white and color photographs, Grier shares photos from his most famous exhibitions and news stories-images that capture the moment and so much more. Starting with his early years as a boy growing up in Cincinnati, readers quickly learn about the young man who won his first photo contest while in the army. He came home determined to make a career as a photographer, and despite his lack of formal training and experience, within a few years, he secured his job as the first Black photographer for The Cincinnati Post. Nearly 40 years later, his daughter became the second photojournalist of color in Cincinnati in the early 2000's, a sad statement of the lack of diversity in the news industry in a city where the population is nearly 50% Black. Whether covering local events, Cincinnati life, impoverished villages overseas, young soldiers on their way to their first post, or high fashion, Grier's photos are unmistakable and evocative. After the closure of the Post in 2007, Grier continued his career as an independent artist. His work has been featured in exhibitions such as "White People" and "Clothes Encounters." Now for the first time, in collaboration with one of his journalist partners, reporter Molly Kavanaugh, Grier shares why it was always about the work"