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Lou Jones: Trading Physics for Photography

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Lou Jones: Trading Physics for Photography

 

 




Introduction to Lou Jones.  1:42 min.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Camera:  Lee Skye.  Editor:  John Persaud.  Production:  Taylor Neita.  Music:  Bensound.com.  Recorded:  1/23/2019, Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

Editor’s Note:  This video interview is part of The Esther Paster & Rick Grossman ArtSpeak Photography Series.

 

LOU JONES’ eclectic career has evolved from commercial to the personal. It has spanned every format, film type, artistic movement and technological change.  He maintains a studio in Boston, Massachusetts and has photographed for Fortune 500 corporations, international companies and local small businesses including Federal Express, Nike and the Barr Foundation; completed assignments for magazines and publishers all over the world such as Time/Life, National Geographic, and Paris Match; initiated long term projects on the civil wars in Central America, death row, Olympics Games and pregnancy; and published multiple books.

Jones has served on the boards of directors of numerous photographic associations, societies, and museums such as the American Society of Media Photographers, Photographic Resource Center and the Griffin Museum of Photography. He helped found the school Center for Digital Imaging Arts of Boston University and conceived the prestigious Griffin Museum’s annual Focus Awards.

For his photography, Jones has been awarded many accolades from organizations like Communication Arts Magazine, Art Directors Club of Boston, Travel Photographer of the Year and International Photographic Council (United Nations). Nikon recognizes Jones as a “Legend Behind the Lens” and Lowepro has honored him as a “Champion.”

Jones has exhibited his eclectic imagery in colleges and schools such as Trinity College, Texas Tech University and New England College, and in collections at the Smithsonian Institution, DeCordova Museum and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. His photography is owned by various collections including the Fogg Museum, Wellesley College and the University of Texas.

In addition, Jones lectures and teaches workshops all over the world, including at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City, the Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, New England Camera Club Council’s annual conference, and Estúdio Brasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The first book Jones published, Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row, earned Jones the Ehrmann Award from Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty. Since then, he has published numerous other books including Travel+Photography:Off the Charts, and Speedlights and Speedlites: Creative Flash Photography at Lightspeed.

The videos below are organized by topic and run between 50 seconds and 14 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 3:36 min.




What was your introduction to photography and when did you become passionate about it?.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 1:46 min.




Who are some of your role models and influencers?

 

UNDERSTANDS ARTISTS’ NEEDS: 1:40 min.




Your combination of science and art puts you in a unique club.

 

OPEN TO CHANGE, FLEXIBILITY: 1:32 min.




How did the “art” side of your photography evolve?

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS: 0:58 sec.




Have the changes in camera technology effected your images?

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 4:31 min.




After your roommate gave your first camera, what was the evolution that got you thinking, “This is something I might do for the rest of my life?”?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 2:12 min.




You called your early textbook photos “pedestrian,” but if your artistic eye had been more developed, those textbook photos might have been considered more artful.

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY: 1:37 min.




What was the first project that you got paid for?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 3:17 min.




What are some of your favorite projects?

 

SELF-CONFIDENCE: 2:17 min.




In the early days when you showed examples of your portfolio, did you let the photos speak for themselves or did you tell the backstory behind each photo?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 0:50 sec.




When did you start making photos of jazz legends like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, etal.?

 

SERENDIPITY: 7:27 min.




Tell us about your Olympics and Death Row projects.

 

DEVELOP A VOICE: 5:06 min




When you photograph the Olympics, are you corralled in a scrum of many photographers, or are you able to sneak away and look for unique photographic moments?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART: 13:41 min.




Let’s talk about your Pan-Africa project and the crowd sourcing campaigns you used to finance the project.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 1:52 min.




Tangential to your Pan-African photography project is hearing the influence of African music on America and the world.

 

COMMUNITY VALUES: 2:44 min.




I have observed that the spirit and power embedded in the ancient art of indigenous peoples gets lost when contemporary artists try to imitate the ancient work.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 4:32 min.




Who are some of your other role models and influencers?

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 5:58 min




Talk about the evolution of the equipment and processes you use.

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART:  1:58 min.




In an ArtSpeak article titled “A Requiem for Traditional Printmaking,” Murray Zimiles states that there is no effect of traditional printmaking that you can’t achieve with a high-quality digital printer.

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY: 2:22 min.




Have you written about photography?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 4:10 min.




What are the biggest challenges you see for contemporary photography?