The Impostors Daughter

The blending of worlds: I photographed Laurie for the jacket cover of her illustrated novel The Impostors Daughter. A couple of weeks later she called to see if I could make an author video to coincide with the launch of the book. An author video you say, what is that? I had the same reaction. Much like the world of photography, the publishing world is changing as fast as I can type. The author video is now an integral part of a book launch, a virtual book tour. Laurie’s amazing drawings and video are a perfect match. (The video is a big file, it will take a second to load.)

The Cheese State

As a slightly less coordinated, shorter, 12 year old, complete with toupee inspired hair, my parents accompanied me to Madison Wisconsin to celebrate my sister’s graduation from college. It was great fun; I witnessed my first protest, saw the band of the moment STYX in the hotel lobby, sailed on the lake and ate cheese. I came home with a t-shirt and my sister came home with my awesome brother in-law Dave. 28 years later while touring the country on a job for AARP, I noticed things have not changed much, my sister still loves Dave and Wisconsin still loves cheese. Well maybe STYX is no longer the band of the moment!

Street Painting

I have lived in New York City for the past 16 years and now more than ever consider it home. Even so, I still roam the city as a tourist and see something new everyday. For a while I have been photographing interesting pieces from my travels, so it was natural to photograph pieces of my backyard. To see more of my travel slideshows visit my main site: www.joshuakessler.com.

The Audi Q5 Weekend

For some reason or another just when I need to get out of the city, something comes up. In this case it was the Audi Q5 Weekend. I was fortunate enough to tag along with my girlfriend Joanna when she attended the press launch for the new Q5. This was so exciting on many levels; a weekend away with Joanna in a new car, a chance to be surrounded by people talking about cars and oh ya some spa treatments. Did I mention I would be able to take an extended test drive and then talk about cars with the Audi people over drinks? Heaven! This would be the realization of my lifelong fantasy to become a car journalist. The Car aspect of the weekend was fun but the real test drive was of my new Canon 5D MKII. I received it the week before and was dying to try the video capabilities. This camera has been like hearing the Beatles for the first time, a game changer. I have dreamed of being able to shoot video that has the same quality as a still image and this is the beginning. I really enjoyed driving the Q5, but I loved using the 5D. The above video is a document of both test drives, the Q5 and the 5D.

www.joshuakessler.com V3

I am proud to announce the launch of the redesigned www.joshuakessler.com. In addition to great images, there are now expanded sections for videos and my travels. To learn more about each image just roll your cursor over the image.

To coincide with the launch, I've also made two new portfolios in book form. People You Know, for celebrity images and People You May Know, for real people.

Please check out the new site and if you would like to see a portfolio just let me know.

Japan

Wow! Japan was everything I thought it would be and nothing at all, it is the future and the past at the same time. This was my first visit and I was visually attracted to the basics; trains, trees, taxis and towers. To see my video homage to the Shinkansen train, click here. Once again I used music hand crafted by my good friend Erik Calrson; otherwise known as area c. To see the trees, taxis and towers click on the link below for the Blurb book I made.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/633786

The State of Yo

The State of Yo is a video portrait of the great Tom Kuhn. I will let the video speak for Tom, but for me making it was a true joy. The world would be a better place if everyone could spend a day with Tom.

Aleta

Last year I boarded 47 airplanes. Many of those flights took me to parts of the country I would not have found on my own and I consider it a gift. I often say that I love making photographs, but more importantly I love that it allows me to meet extraordinary people—Aleta is one of them. Unfortunately, like so many other people, she got caught with unfavorable terms in her mortgage and is going to have to move, but yet is incredibly positive.

Michael Cartellone

My friend Michael is a painter and a good one. When we met a couple of years ago we immediately bonded over art and our native Ohio. I always thought of Him as my painter friend who grew up back home. As a testament to his passion for painting, I often forgot about his day job and then one night I visited him at work; Michael is the drummer for the legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd! Being an extraordinary drummer is where the rock star stereotypes end. A few years ago to fend off the rigors of the road he started taking a small canvas and paint on the road and has settled into a wonderful routine of rocking hard, traveling through the night, painting all day in his hotel room du jour and then starting all over again.

www.michaelcartellone.com

Ted Turner

The plan was to do two shots, one in a booth at his flagship Ted’s Montana Grill in Atlanta and then a second upstairs in a conference room, which is what became the cover. The idea for the restaurant shot was to photograph him having lunch, with his business partner in the restaurant chain, so I did not need to interact much. Back in the conference room I tried to engage him while I was shooting and got a blank stare. I could not figure out what went wrong, did I say something I should not have, is he just not that nice, do I have spinach in my teeth? The next thing I knew his publicist leaned over and whispered in my ear, “ I forgot to tell you, Ted is a little hard of hearing in one ear!” I immediately started yelling at him and he became one of the most engaging, interesting and nicest people I have photographed.