The No Longer Big Easy

Almost two years ago I was sent on assignment to New Orleans, one month after hurricane Katrina. It was my first trip there and I could not help but thinking what a grand place it must have been and would be again. I thought again would be sooner than two years and honestly it may still be sometime in the future. The French Quarter was shockingly unscathed. It was the first few days that people were allowed back to their homes and a few bars and strip clubs were already open. Two years later the same is true. If you go straight from the airport to your hotel in the French Quarter, you would think that the recovery is complete. Disappointingly, the true pace of the recovery can only be seen when you leave the tourist centers. It is subtle at first, a pile of debris in front of a house, then a FEMA trailer on the lawn, followed by a whole parking lot of trailers and then once you hit the Lower Ninth Ward it’s just empty lots with a sporadic house; total destruction. Unfortunately, that is where I was sent to photograph Gwen Adams, her house had survived the flooding, was salvageable and she had just applied for a building permit, when the second phase of the disaster hit. Without notifying the Adams the city deemed the house uninhabitable and with all but a few exceptions raised the whole neighborhood without notifying anyone. Gwen found out that her house was gone from a neighbor who had come by to cut the grass to keep from being fined by the city. So now Gwen is paying a mortgage, taxes and cutting the grass at a home that is gone.

Wendy

When I was growing up my first photographic role models were my brother Rebel (it’s his nickname) and my cousin Wendy. Reb (the nickname of his nickname) and Wendy are 14 years older than I am. When I was six they were in film school and photo school respectively. They would come home from college with their latest projects and I was enamored; Reb made an incredible short film with tennis balls and Tang and Wendy used an early color Xerox machine to make images of flowers that she combined into a tapestry. Even then I would run around saying that I wanted to be a photographer and follow it up with the statement that I would not shoot weddings or bar mitzvahs, So it was a treat to come full circle and photograph Wendy. I would not be writing this if it were not for both of them.

In addition Wendy has the greatest collection af salt and pepper shakers I have ever seen!

Apples In China

Normally, when one of my images is used without permission, it is a headache. In this case, I was elated. This is my first Chinese magazine cover! Even better news was that the cover shot contributed to the Apples In Stereo being invited to perform at the Modern Sky Festival, with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in Beijing this October.

JJL

It was fourteen years ago when I first “met” Jennifer Jason Leigh. I say, “met” in quotation marks, because at the time we met I was a lowly, all black wearing, photo assistant. Even though I was strongly discouraged from entering into discourse with the subjects, I got the impression that Jennifer was a really nice person and an incredible actress. Fast forward to the present. I now have confirmation that Jennifer is very nice and a joy to photograph. I’ve never liked to work with models because they, model. True actors are such a treat to photograph, because they have such control over their bodies and emotions.

Roy S. Johnson

As with Doctors, lawyers and countless other professionals; photographers specialize. Over the course of my career I have been asked many times to photograph headshots, weddings or bar mitzvahs. I always politely say no and explain that I am portrait photographer. Truth is, I have photographed both headshots, two weddings and thankfully no bar mitzvahs. The reason not to photograph headshots, weddings or bar mitzvahs is that they may be the hardest assignments in photography. Dealing with the family dynamics of a wedding or an actor who does not understand that the camera can only lie so much is not an easy job. The main criterion for accepting a job is, if I want to do it and in this case I did. Roy recently became the editor in chief of Men’s Fitness Magazine and needed a set of photographs to be used for his monthly editors column. Monica Bradley called me, the photo editor of Men’s Fitness who is an old friend and client, so of course I said yes. My hunch was right about Roy, he was a very interesting guy that made for a great afternoon.

Atlanta

I just returned from photographing Sara Blakely, inventor of Spanx, for the inaugural cover of Start Up magazine, a spin off of Inc. What are Spanx you ask? More than likely if you asked that you are a dude. Spanx are the equivalent of the modern girdle. I come from a family of inventors and someone who can build a better mousetrap always impresses me.

Modern Anachronism

I took this photo in the Pittsburgh Airport after visiting my Mother in Ohio. The Pittsburgh airport was designed in the late 1980’s and finished in 1992. Obviously, they did not anticipate the popularity of the cellular phone.

Quasi July Fourth

So it was a few days before, the meal was not quite hamburgers and hotdogs, but it was outside and there was beer. I had only had Maryland Crab once before and this time the experience was much the same. As much as it is about the crabs, it is about having a communal meal with your friends and enjoying the summer.

Inc. Magazine July Cover

I have now shot over 25 magazine covers and it is still very exciting to hold the finished copy for the first time. There is just something special about seeing your photograph under the masthead, at the newsstand or better yet when a stranger is reading a copy. My mom has even been known to carry a copy with her to show her friends.

Figure Ground

I always say that my education was divided into three parts, a B.F.A. in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology, assisting for Annie Leibovitz and the year I took off from school to play in a band. What I learned during each of these periods played an equally important role in helping me to be photographer. Some background: two years ago on the morning of my wedding, the members of my old band Figure Ground assembled in a New York City practice space to play together for the first time in fifteen years. Guitarist Eric Carlson’s wife, Erica having not seen us play before, became convinced that a reunion show was in order. We were not as convinced until about six months ago, when it came to our attention that a seventeen year old video of Figure Ground, sound checking in Columbus Ohio, appeared on YouTube. Unbeknownst to us, it appears from the comments that we were big in Norway all along. So after seventeen years I am once again in a band and ready to continue my education.

Figure Ground will be playing at the Cedars Lounge in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday, September 1st and we hope to tour Norway in the future.