Jay Maisel
Famous Photographer
Birth and Death
Jay Maisel was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 18 in 1931 and in fact still lives at the age of 85 years old.
Education and Family Background
Maisel studied painting and graphic design at Manhattan's Cooper Union and then later at Yale University and after that officially became a photographer, which led to a promising career. He lived in lower Manhattan with his large family for 40 years then later moved out and got married and had one child.
What was his style?
Jay was a different kind of photographer and didn't have a typical type of photography, but focused on taking pictures of the light, color, and gesture of everyday life and it helped that he lived in New York. So this led to many accomplishments and opportunities for him.
What made him famous?
Awards he won:
- Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Media Photographers
- Art Directors Club Hall of Fame
- Infinity Award of the International Center of Photography
Famous Work:
- Kind of Blue album cover for Miles Davis (best-selling jazz album of all time)
- Five Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers
- First two covers of the New York Magazine
- Twelve years of advertising with United Technologies
Red Wall and Rope
Singapore
First Snow, Elizabeth Street
New York, New York
Man in Bus
Bucharest, Romania
What he and others have said about his work
Quote from Jay: "If you're really lucky, you can structure your work, on rare occasions, to where you're doing exactly what you would like to do. which is to wander around, blindly looking for things, without any preconceived notion. That's the way I like to do it."
- Many people such as Miles Davis and Marilyn Monroe have approved of his work.
What do I appreciate about his work?
His work is very unique to me and I find it interesting how he finds such cool pictures just through everyday life. Unlike many other photographers he doesn't prepare as much and try as hard to get good photos but finds them a lot more easy.