LOS ANGELES — Bill Jones was one of the first Black celebrity photographers in Hollywood. He worked the red carpets when Black entertainers were often overlooked.

His prolific body of work encompasses over 100,000  slides, negatives and prints. Now, his granddaughter, LaToya “Toy” Jones, is carrying on his legacy.

Jones spoke about how her grandfather got his start with photography while serving in the Air Force in London. 

“Mohammed Ali was in town for the Henry Cooper fight in 1963 when he was still Cassius Clay. Mohammed stopped my grandfather because he saw a young Black man with a camera. Then my grandfather told him he was in the Air Force and he was studying at the London School of Photography. While in the Air Force, he threw fashion shows. And then, from developing those photos and looking back at how we look in the photos, he started shooting celebrities,” Jones said. 

One of Bill Jones’ goals was to capture the essence of his Black subjects and portray them in a positive light.

He started working in LA on fashion shows and pageants before working his way onto red carpets. 

“When you go to some of these events, you have positions that they put you in. So a lot of the Black photographers were in the back of the line and a lot of the white photographers were in the front. My grandfather, he made his mark so much in Hollywood that they had him in the front of the line,” Jones said.

Jones displayed the large archive she has of her grandfather’s work. She explained how he became close with his famous subjects, even getting invited to events in their homes.

However, Jones was not aware of her grandfather’s fame until he was attacked in 1997 and Halle Berry organized a candlelight vigil for him.

Jones teaches photography to students through a program called Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Our Youth, which honors her grandfather's legacy.

“What makes his photographs pivotal and unique is, it’s not the person in the picture, it’s the person who shot the picture. You can always feel the energy from certain photos. So if that person is projecting a light in you, or positivity, then his life is shown in all his pictures,” Jones concluded.

Reach out to @BillJonesLegacy on Instagram to learn more about Bill Jones.

Click the arrow above to watch the full video.

Watch "LA Times Today" at 7 and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News app.