Gordon Baer: About the Photographer     Gordon Baer describes the world around him with sympathy and concern. He was credited in 1965 for effecting the passage of the Kentucky Strip-Mine Bill "...This young man crawled through thickets, mud slides, flash floods, and choked culverts to obtain the pictures which shocked Governor Breathitt and called nationwide attention to our plight." in 1966, Baer became staff photographer for the Cincinnati Post and Times-Star, a position he held through 1971 except for 18 months when he was called to active duty during the "Pueblo Crisis." In 1971, Baer left the Post & Times-Star to start his freelance business. He has covered almost every type of assignment ranging from strip mining to microsurgery, executive portraits, annual report photography, aerials, architecture and the probing and reporting of social issues. His photographs have won the National Headlines Award and various local, regional and national honors including the University of Missouri-sponsored "Pictures of the Year" recognition awards. He recently received the University of Missouri/National Press Photographers Association/Nikon World Understanding Award for his coverage of the story Vietnam: The Battle Comes Home. Baer's most recent recognition was a University of Missouri Award of Excellence for his Portrait and Personality entry from the end of life series "Aunt Beck."