The short version

In the summer of 1975, I borrowed money from my mother to take a two-week course at the Maine Photographic Workshops. Director David Lyman hired me to work the rest of the summer. I slept on couches and floors, wore flip-flops everywhere, and got to use a 4x5 view camera. As a 19-year-old, I was enthralled listening to famous photographers talk about their work. I developed slides for Ernst Haas and had a drink with Mary Ellen Mark at the Garage. 

When the summer ended I needed to find a job with a weekly salary to comply with the contract I had signed with my mother to attend the MPW. I got a job cooking at the Sugarloaf Inn, got fired after two months, and was able to get unemployment compensation. I spent that winter skiing, photographing, and partying on $42.50 per week. And to make amends to my mother for breaking our contract I got accepted to the Portland School of Art for the fall of 1976.

Photography has always felt as much a part of my life as eating and skiing. Both sustaining and exhilarating. In 1982 I took a job with a professional photo lab where I learned color correction skills and had use of materials and facilities for my own work. After six years I left and started my own studio/lab providing photographic services to artists, galleries, and museums.

For the last 33 years, I’ve spent much of my time photographing other people’s artwork. And, although it never took away from my doing my own work, it did slow my attention to show. So from 2010 to 2019, I used Facebook to post a new photo daily in a series called Jay’s Morning Walk. Personal Work.