James Roark

James Barnas, aka James Roark, was a Pulitzer Prize nominated photographer and photo editor for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

Born James Barnas, in the late 1960's he and his brother John took the surnames of the main characters ("Roark" and "Galt") from the Ayn Rand novels, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged".

In 1970, Roark shot the photographs for a book titled "Rock Beyond Woodstock" authored by Michael Ross.

Roark was nominated for the Pulitzer prize in 1976 for his photograph of Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday saving an American flag from being burned by two protesters. He took the famous photograph on April 25, 1976 at Dodger Stadium. After the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner closed in 1989 he lost his job and moved to Portland, Oregon.

Roark died on October 15, 1995 at the age of 49 after being beaten during an attempted robbery. He was walking to a MAX Light Rail station after leaving work at Poor Richard's Restaurant, where he worked as a cook.