Jay Maisel was one of photography’s defining voices. Following his death at age 95, we return to a rare 2007 interview from the Luminous Landscape archive.
Michael Reichmann sits down with Jay inside the 72-room Germania Bank Building on New York’s Bowery. Filmed by Chris Sanderson.
Jay talks about the ideas behind his photography:
• Light, color, and gesture
• Why photographers focus too much on pixels
• Why sharpness cannot rescue an empty photograph
• Color photography versus black and white
• Finding subjects worth photographing
• Learning to see without a camera
• The value of time, distance, and persistence
• Commercial photography and National Geographic
• The influence of Ernst Haas
Maisel photographed the Miles Davis album cover Kind of Blue. His career spanned more than seven decades. His greater contribution came through the way he taught photographers to see.
“The first thing that calls to you is light.”
This is Jay Maisel speaking in his own words. Direct. Funny. Opinionated. Focused on the photograph instead of the camera.
Watch Part Two:
Jay Maisel: Inside the World He Built | Part 2
