Bill Jay passes away

Bill Jay, a photographer, teacher and author passes away at only 69. His books "On Being a Photographer" and "On Looking at Photographs" co-authored with David Hurn of Magnum had an enormous influence on me.

http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2009/05/jay.html

A major project of his was to photograph other photographers.

Here's the alphabetized list of portraits:
http://www.billjayonphotography.com/portraitsalphabetized.html

His portraits of Weegee (Arthur Felling) and Ansel Adams are my favourite. His portrait of Weegee was taken during a visit to his NY apartment during a sad time when Weegee was suffering from dementia or Alzheimer Disease late in his life. Its a powerful image and very much reminds me of my own father. When taking Ansel Adams' portrait, Adams was telling a dirty joke with such gusto that he was spilling his wine. Note the cat.

In addition, in his portrait of Koudelka one will see the most beautifully brassed black-paint Leica.