Jay Maisel, the man with the cigar and the Nikon. Photo by Seth Resnick.
Jay Maisel turns 80 today. For those of you who might not know, for years Jay was regarded as perhaps the top assignment pro in the world. I only met him once, many years ago, in the company of Arthur Kramer, but I'd recognize his silhouette any day. Happy Birthday Jay!
The photo is by Jay's friend Seth Resnick, who wrote a nice post about Jay for his birthday.
Mike
(Thanks to Rob Atkins)
Send this post to a friend
Please help support TOP by patronizing our sponsors B&H Photo and Amazon
Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
Featured Comment by Rob Atkins: "jaymaisel.com is full of appreciations for Jay. And of course you can view a selection of Jay's outstanding work."
Featured Comment by Mark Hobson: "Back in the mid-'70s, I was asked by Corning to be their backup choice to do the photography for their annual report. Their first choice was Jay Maisel, but they had yet to contact him, and were worried that their budget for the work—picturing some of their products in use in ten different countries around the world—was not in Maisel's league.
"I was asked to submit a budget for the assignment and I agonized for days over the numbers. Eventually, I just doubled my estimate to $40k, based on the fact that Maisel's number would be very high, probably even higher than I could imagine. A month or so later I was delivering some work to Corning and stopped in to see the client. I was informed that there was good news and bad news. The good news was that their budget was so low—$60k (in 1970 dollars, remember)—that Maisel wouldn't even send his portfolio because Corning's number wasn't enough to even be a starting point for negotiations. I was in.
"The bad news...Corning's new CEO, in a budget-cutting move, declared that his portrait would be the only picture in that year's annual report. And, he already had a portrait of himself he was happy with."
Featured Comment by Hugh Crawford: "He also lives in one of the most awesome houses in New York City now that the Frick and the Morgan are no longer private homes."
Mike adds:
Jay Maisel's house in lower Manhattan, the former Germania bank building. Photo by Jim Henderson.
Another picture of Jay's front door by MGChan. (For more, do a Google image search for "190 Bowery.")
Jay relaxing at home by Leigh Davis.
Featured Comment by Adam Lanigan: "I'm late to the party as always, but I just realised that I've got a photo of Jay's front door with his name right on it and had never made the association."
Hey, is that a hotshoe bracket for holding the cigar? :)
Will
Posted by: Will Frostmill | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 01:15 PM
Will,
What do you want to bet he has one somewhere? I'll bet he does.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 01:31 PM
So Jay is 80? That means you only have another 20 years or so to attend a Jay Maisel workshop -- a week of aphorisms, solid critique disguised as verbal abuse, hundreds of Jay's great shots, and thousands of f-bombs.
There's a great Jay Maisel quote from a blog post on thedigitalstory.com that sums it up:
"A friend of mine brought a cardboard box to one of my presentations. I asked him, why the box? He said there will be two groups of people in the audience today. Half will leave before the presentation is over because they will have to go outside and take pictures. The other half will want to leave their cameras in this box."
That about sums it up. Have a great f@#%#ing birthday, Jay!
Posted by: Randy Cole | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 02:13 PM
I had the good luck to participate in a workshop Jay did in San Antonio in 1986. A workshop with Jay is totally BS-free and full of good humor at the same time - rewarding on several levels. A phenomenal guy.
Many happy returns, Jay.
Posted by: JKLWOOD | Tuesday, 18 January 2011 at 03:32 PM
I attended Jay's course in Dec. 2009. What a great experience! Worth every penny of the gazillion bucks it cost;-)
He taught photography the only sensible way: he gave us some very basic rules and made us go out and take pictures on our own.
The other thing that was so incredible was seeing a guy who really had made it in photography - commercially and artistically. A career that is barely thinkable in today's world of digital imaging with everyone being their own "artist". But then, Jay has always been an exception - even in the "golden" years of commercial photography. There are not many of Jay's colleagues around anymore that have succeeded to acquire "real" real estate in Manhattan.
I am very happy that I had the opportunity to have gotten to know this living legend. Now, everyone: rush out and book his seminar before it's to late in 2030/2040/2050 or so.
Cheers
Frank
Posted by: Frank | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 02:11 AM
That is just about my dream home, I have always said I want to live in a warehouse with attached bedroom.
-Hudson
Posted by: Hudson | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 08:42 AM
Crap, I'm having a hard time believing the man is 80. I was honored just to listen to him at a conference a couple of years & have to admit becoming an instant fan.
Some great reads off of those links on jaymaisel.com, too. Particularly the link to Seth Reznick's blog. I may start calling him God too, now.
Posted by: Eric W | Saturday, 22 January 2011 at 10:52 PM