Jay Maisel: The Power Of Perception

HOW THIS MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER USES GESTURE IN IMAGES TO TELL A STORY

- Suzanne Driscoll

“I REALLY DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A STORYTELLER,” Jay Maisel says. “Pictures are basically anecdotal anyway.” In his studio full of artifacts and mounted photos from his travels around the world, Maisel is happy to reflect on his 63 years of personal and commercial photography work.

Best known for his ability to capture vibrant colors using light and gesture found in everyday life, Maisel studied painting and graphic design at Cooper Union and later at Yale, studying under former Bauhaus professor Josef Albers. A firm believer that one shouldn’t just major in photography, Maisel says one needs to first learn what works visually, “whether it’s a painting, sculpture, architecture, or pottery. Our history of photography did not start with the daguerreotype. It started with cave painting.”

When Maisel was about 20, his brother-in-law loaned him a Kodak 35mm camera. “It wasn’t until I kept on walking out of my painting classes to go out and take pictures that I realized I enjoyed photography much more. And I was always a great believer in instant gratification.”

His first big break into commercial photography was doing work for a large pharmaceutical company promoting Ritalin and other drugs. “I had a capacity for making things look real, which was based on the fact that I was technically inept,” Maisel recalls. “Nothing looked commercial or sharp. I would hire actors—not models— to pose as in a catatonic state or with an aggressive look. After a while I became quite good at simulating what you might see in a mental institution if you could get in.”