"A Long Walk Home"-----life as Eli Reed saw it American photographer and photojournalist Eli Reed has been documenting "life as I saw it" for more than 40 years. His career retrospective , "Eli Reed: A Long Walk Home", is an extraordinary search of beauty while recording hardship. With a heart of love, Reed uses a style that uncovers humanity at every turn. According to Reed, "A Long Walk Home" is about what it means to be a human being. It all began with a photo he took of his mother and his memory of her smile. Raised in New Jersey, reed was originally a painter. Primarily self-taught in photography, he became a freelance photographer in 1970. after producing some impressive photos that drew much attention, he joined the famous company Magnum Photos---the first black photographer invited to do so. His photos are remarkable in their lack of judgment of the people or the situations he comes across. In Beirut, Lebanon, a man removes a tree branch from a car in a recently bombed parking lot. An old man wrapped in a sheet plays a drum in front of a sign reading "God Is the Way" while National Guardsmen lift their guns during a war in Miami. A young boy upside down with his legs in the air in a Kenyan refugee camp, his determined look faces the camera. In Harlem, New York, a group of laughing children take over an abandoned car, using it as a jungle gym. Where another photographer might have focused on the _ of these situations. Reed's camera smiles. His images show how humans cope, rise above, and carry on. This is what gives " A Long Walk Home" its power. Considering the places Reed has been to, there are very few photos of guns or obvious violence. Instead, Reed  focuses on the varied human responses to hardship. We smile along with Reed in a gesture of compassion and solidarity. We recognize our fellow human beings. In his work "A Long Walk Home". Reed's photos  _  .
aim to draw others' sympathy were taken only in America reflect the strength of humans focus on war and violence