Jay Maisel - Light, Gesture, and Color

Jay Maisel

Light, Gesture & Color
book team

CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Felix Nelson

TECHNICAL EDITORS
Cindy Snyder
Kim Doty

ART DIRECTOR
Jessica Maldonado

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY
Jay Maisel

BACK COVER PHOTO
Stephen Denton

COLOR PRODUCTION SPECIALIST
Marco Ugolini

Published by New Riders

New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education.

Copyright 2015 by Kelby Corporate Management, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. New Riders cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in the book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Warning and Disclaimer

This book is designed to provide information about photography. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied.

The information is provided on an as-is basis. The author and New Riders shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book or from the use of discs, videos, or programs that may accompany it.

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-403226-9

ISBN-10: 0-13-403226-8

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

www.kelbyone.com
www.newriders.com

This book is dedicated to Leon Friend, my art teacher
at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY.

The few of you out there who studied with him will know why Im dedicating
this book to him. Those of you who never had the privilege will soon learn why.

In a postwar public high school near Coney Island, with no funding and no help,
Mr. Friend (he was always Mr. Friend) formed a community of art students.

He started the Art Squad. It was, in the best sense of the word, an elite group.
If you were hard-working and stood out in your art classes, you might be lucky enough
to be asked to join. That gave you further impetus to climb over an eight-foot-high
spiked steel fence in order to get into the school at 7:00 a.m., and do it again at 7:00 p.m.

What motivated all this? Mr. Friend taught by stretching not just your knowledge,
but your expectations, your standards of excellence, and you.

He changed my life more than anyone Ive known. He opened my eyes.
He made me understand that work could be joy. He demanded your best.
He respected you. He called everyone Mr. or Miss.

I know I speak for all of us who knew him when I say: Thank you, Mr. Friend.

This book is for you.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931, photographer Jay Maisels career spans 61 years. He studied graphic design with Leon Friend at Abraham Lincoln High School, and painting with Joseph Hirsch in 1949 and Josef Albers in 1953. He informally studied with photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter in 1952, and had a class with photographer and designer Alexey Brodovitch in 1955. He began working as a freelance photographer in 1954.

Jays name has become synonymous with vibrant color photography that uses light and gesture to create countless unforgettable images for advertising, editorial, and corporate communications. In addition, his pictures appear in books and private, corporate, and museum collections. Some of his commercial accomplishments include five Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers, the first two covers of New York magazine, and the cover of Miles Davis Kind of Blue. Included among his many awards for excellence are the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, American Society of Media Photographers Photographer of the Year Award, and the International Center of Photographys Infinity Award.

Since he stopped taking on commercial work in the late 1990s, Jay has continued to focus on his personal work. A graduate of Cooper Union and Yale University, he continues his education by teaching younger photographers at workshops, seminars, and lectures around the world, and has developed a reputation as a giving and inspiring teacher.

Jay married his wife, Linda Adam, in 1989. Their daughter, Amanda, was born in 1993.

The word invaluable applies to Matt Dean, who sweated out this book even more than I did. Matt did everything technical that needed to be done, since Im so inept in that area. Thanks to his empathy and opinions when I was depressed and indecisive, this book actually happened.

Jamie Smith has worked with me at The Bank on the workshop Light, Gesture & Color for the last eight years. Without him, the workshop would have been a lesser experience for everybody. With him, the workshop has evolved over the years into this book you hold in your hands.

The people at KelbyOne have been essential to making this book happen: Scott, who of course is not really a person but a series of identical cloneshow else can you explain the amount of work he gets done; Dave Moser, or as I call him the Silver Fox; Felix Nelson and Kathy Siler, who I am proud to call friends; Cindy Snyder, Kim Doty, and Jessica Maldonado, who do all the actual work; plus a whole list of KelbyOne crew who make it a pleasure to deal with them on any project.

Lastly, my wife, L.A., and my daughter, Amanda, for being there for me.

Its difficult to arbitrarily separate light from gesture or gesture from color. I want to speak of each separately but they are all intertwined.

Light is.
Gesture is.
Color is.

Since all three are always there, how do you get them? Let them find you. The aggressive search for them is counterproductive. It makes it less likely that you will perceive them.

The most important thing for a photographer to learn is to be self-critical. Heres a new mantra: If youre not your own severest critic, you are your own worst enemy.

There is one thing that can help you to be self-critical or objective about your work. That is the ability to look at your work and see, literally, what is in your image. This is not as easy as it sounds. You also have to take a step back and try to see, literally, what is in your field of view as you shoot. To do this, you must be open to the world in front of you.

You must learn to leave yourself open to accept things rather than anxiously searching for them. You cannot say, Today, light; tomorrow, gesture; the next day, color! And Ill do all three by Sunday! It just doesnt work that way.

Ernst Haas said that we do not take pictures, we are taken by pictures. Try to be as open as possible to what is around you. Who knows what youll be taken by.

The whole world is there for you. Gifts will happen, but only if you are patient with life itself, the shooting process, and your own limitations.

Lucille Clifton said, If you are open to it, mystery will come. If youre not, why should it, actually?

One of the first things in Genesis is: Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light. God saw that the light was good. Ever since then, photographers have been complaining about bad light.