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22 Comments

  1. Love it. Thanks for posting this.

  2. This was great to watch, thanks for posting it. I love his quote too; “Any picture that I’ve done, that is really worth anything, I’ve been terrified the entire time I was shooting it.”

  3. I attended his workshop in Santa Fe few years ago and it has been a life-changing experience as a photographer. His talent, his approach to the students and sincerity when criticizes your work it is always constructive. Looking at his photos in his studio in NYC it is a real joy for your eyes and your soul. A “maestro” and a mentor for me.
    Thank you Jay.

  4. Always loved Jay’s work and good to see this well made piece. Makes me wanna hit the streets with the camera again.

  5. Good interview. Very refreshing to see a photographer living, and thriving, with digital. I don’t have anything against film (honest, I don’t). But I have to say it is getting very tired when every interview with a photographer includes an obligatory whine about how film was better. IMHO the technology is always evolving (always has been too) and you just have to learn how to adapt.

  6. That building – OMG!

  7. I have a photographer friend of mine that went to school with Jay. He told me Jay would shoot many more photos than any one else did for the class assignments.

  8. obsessive compulsive disorder comes to mind.

  9. An American treasure.
    I linked up my girlfriend, because she’s never understood why it is that I always ‘have to carry a camera and shoot’ wherever we go… and her reply a few minutes ago:
    “Wow. I do understand. This brought tears to my eyes in a good way. I think because I understand the passion more.”

    THANK YOU Jay, and Rob!!!

  10. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jay on several occasions. What a character, spirit, force of nature, and spreader of the gospel of photography. To me he’s generous (as someone else here has said), full of piss & vinegar, and of course incredibly talented. I never get bored looking at his photos. It’s a treat to spend a few minutes more watching him in his elements here: the world of photography, and esp. the streets of New York where he thrives and reminds ex-New Yorkers like me that there is beauty — Light! Color! Character! — in the concrete canyons, too, not just in the redwood forests of my new California home. Bravo.

  11. Jay is beyond words. He is color, light and gesture all wrapped in one package. Master teacher….

  12. Thanks for showing this piece…two of the best teachers and practitioners of photography Jay and Greg…wonderful.

  13. Inspiring. Valuable for photographers of all styles / backgrounds! Thank you :)

  14. “The joy of seeing.” EXACTLY

  15. The mans got an eye.

  16. A building he bought for 100K is now worth upwards of 50 million. There’s the lesson there, but real estate!

    • whoops, buy!

  17. Love Jay’s work. He spoke to our class when I was still in photography school and I’ve been following his work ever since. Asshole? Maybe. But the man can SEE. And that’s what keeps me coming back to his pictures.

  18. Jay was the most inspirational teacher I’ve ever had, what a wonderful film about him and his amazing work! Thanks Jay! :)

  19. Jay has always been an inspiration and this film shows why, as Gregory Heisler said perhaps more eloquently in the film Jay is able to take something common and make art out of it. Jay taught me the advantage to always carry a camera as think of what one might miss w/o it–as he once said “It is hard to take a picture without one”.


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