Today’s a rather special day for me. Twenty years ago (how hard that is to believe) October 9th, 1989, I woke up to find out that a photograph that I had been commissioned to take for Time Magazine was actually on that week’s cover. It was an interesting and eye opening
story about adopting babies and the costs involved, both financially and emotionally. And while I knew that the assignment, shot the previous month, was intended as a possible cover, I also knew that the way Time, Newsweek and all of the similar publications worked, was that the cover could easily be replaced with a late breaking news story, even as late as that weekend. So imagine the excitement when it actually hit the news stand on Monday.
Even before I headed to NYC all those years ago, even while still in art school, part of the dream we all had in addition to owning our own studios and making a living as photographers, was to be published in major national magazines. Not only was it an integral part of the career path towards developing advertising clients, but nothing was more gratifying personally than seeing your pictures in print. The dream for many was, of course, to travel the world shooting for National Geographic (still sounds great to me).
And while I dabbled for awhile, in the early years, shooting for various Conde Nast publications from Mademoiselle to Glamour and Self, when it first arrived on the scene, my own career trajectory took off in a rather different direction and, as many of you, know I started photographing lots of kids, for advertising, magazines and catalogs. Somehow, whether through luck and timing, perseverance or, as so many of the parents of my “models” use to say, having the “patience of a saint” (referring to me, of course), a career did flourish. With great teams of people beside me, we had the opportunity to work with a host of wonderful art directors and clients, some of whom I remain good friends with to this day. Key amongst these “crews” that we worked with was one very special lady and dear friend, who was a significant contributor to the Time cover that you see here. Joyce Whalen, to this day, is one of a select group of top stylists and yes, “baby wranglers” who not only knows every kid in the business and what his or her unique abilities are, but clearly is someone to whom the “patience of a saint” actually pertains
So thanks to Joyce for her years of helping make so many of our photos come to life on the printed page, and of course for her continued friendship.
And while there were other magazine covers and editorial spreads that came before the Time cover and others that followed, and while about ten years ago I chose to leave it all behind and, in a sense, return to my “roots” (thanks dad) and started photographing weddings and in turn the babies and families of my brides and grooms, the Time cover stands out as a significant milestone in my photography life and career and one that I think even the grandchildren, someday, might think was kind of cool. For me it was.
And one more thing. As excited as I was by having my photo on the cover, as was so often the case, I didn’t at the time think it was the best photo from the session. So I’ve included here what I think was clearly the better shot, which I’m happy to report later appeared on the cover of at least a couple of other significant publications.
by admin
3 comments