“One of my favorite photographers, if not my favorite photographer, has passed away.” Jay Maisel died at 95.
Here is my connection to him. Around 1976 or 77, I was playing trumpet in my school jazz band, and I bought Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. That cover photo stopped me cold. “Wow, somebody took that picture and it made me want to shoot pictures just like Jay Maisel.” That was the moment I understood that somebody actually takes photographs.
Then there was his Statue of Liberty in the mist. And the Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoots. The man was a big, loud Brooklyn guy who saw light and color and gesture like nobody else.
Fun fact: he bought an old bank building in the 1960s and later flipped it for $55 million. Not many photographers can say they earned millions and millions of dollars, even if it was in real estate.
Rest easy, Jay. Thanks for the cover that started it all for me.
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