Dixie Knight, whose photography has graced the homes of Little Rock since 1986, died Monday. She was 63.
Little Rock police were called to Knight's home about 5 p.m., according to a report. Police discounted foul play. Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said the body was taken to the medical examiner's office.
One of the homes Knight's photographs adorn belongs to Betsy Singleton Snyder and her husband, Vic. Betsy Snyder's relationship with Knight goes back to 1990, she said, when she and her four siblings had a photo shoot with their mother to commemorate her 70th birthday.
After some traditional photography, Snyder said, the family changed clothes, lined up and put out "flying airplane arms."
"It was a crazy pose. The fact that Dixie was willing to pick up on our weirdness and go with it impressed me."
Since then, Snyder said, Knight photographed Snyder's mother with her cats and dogs, the Snyders' four children, several friends, and Betsy Snyder's sister and brother-in-law at their 50th wedding anniversary.
"They line my halls," Snyder said of the family photos. "I have some she's signed. They're all through my house."
Snyder is pastor of preaching and missions at Pulaski Heights Methodist Church. Her husband, a former Democratic U.S. House member who represented the 2nd Congressional District for seven terms, is medical director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arkansas.
In Snyder's office is a photo of her oldest child, Penn, her triplets, and their bikes.
"The boys had learned to ride tricycles and Penn had learned to ride a big-boy bike. The photo is a glimpse of who these kids are."
Heather Beckham-Clark worked with Knight for 16 years. She's now a real-estate photographer and often sees Knight's work inside homes in Little Rock.
"Dixie had an amazing technical eye for detail," Beckham-Clark said. "She was a classic photographer. She believed in capturing someone's personality, making them the main subject of the picture."
Knight was a medical photographer before opening a studio in 1986, Beckham-Clark said, and two of her medical photos are in the Smithsonian Institution.
"She wasn't restricted to the studio," Beckham-Clark said. "She did aerial. She did weddings. She did senior portraits. Locations. Politicians. Everything ... she had a fear of nothing to try. She was one of the starring photographers of Little Rock."
Knight was devoted to her pets, Beckham-Clark said, leaving behind in her care Scotties Theo, who is white, and Bennie, who is black. That's as in Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets," she said.
When photographer Nancy Nolan arrived in Little Rock in 1998, she became aware of Knight.
"She was one of the few doing great black-and-white portraiture," Nolan said.
Asked to describe Knight's body of work, Nolan paused for a moment, and then said Knight had a different way of looking at people.
"She captured moments between moments," Nolan said. "You know how people are instructed to smile, or to sit a certain way. They're told that, but there's no life to it. Dixie never had that problem. She somehow used her personality to get people to show who they are."
Nolan described Knight's work as "honest and soulful, a moment that can't really be told to happen."
Knight's work will live beyond, Nolan said.
"I walk into houses now and see her work on the walls. She brought joy to a lot of people in this city."
Metro on 09/21/2016