CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

Vibe Founder Quincy Jones

…..In 1993 music mogul Quincy Jones launched the magazine VIBE with great fanfare in New York City. Q realized the importance of Hip- Hop music in the American cultural landscape and created a magazine that soon after it’s initial launch, became it’s predominant voice. Quincy attracted an emoromously creative publication team that included, Diddo Ramm, George Pitts, Alan Light, Kevin Stewart and Mimi Valdez, all of whom your’s truly had the pleasure of working with during those early days. This core group of creative’s attracted legions of photographers from around the country who clamored to be published on the pages of the new avant garde publication.

In June of this year, VIBE ceased publishing, one of the fatalities of weak advertising sales, a declining readership and a recessionary economy. The closing stirred memories of a fun period of producing images for the esteemed publication.

Keith Murray

My first assignment was to photograph Keith Murray, a rapper widely considered to be one of the greatest MC’s of all time. Murray had just released his first album, The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World on Jive Records. I loved the title track and was thrilled that I was headed to New York to photograph the young rap prodigy.

Thandie Newton

Several more assignments came in to the studio during VIBE’s glory days. My favorite was this shoot with Thandie Newton, the English born bombshell that starred in numerous films including Jonathan Demme’s Beloved and the female lead Nyah Hall in the film Mission Impossible Two. There is no greater creative exhilaration than directing a movie star for a still shoot.

Vibe Fashion

Quincy has vowed recently to keep VIBE alive on the internet. The studio will be checking…..

IMAGES FOR VIBE

Guest Blogger Mikel Elam added; “I met Quincy Jones in 1989 in California. Quincy and Miles were good friends. Miles asked me to go to Quincy”s house in Bel Air to deliver a painting by Miles to him. Q purchased the painting directly from Miles for his home. I recall the painting was very large and we had some difficulty getting it into one of Mile’s cars, an SUV. Part of the painting stuck out of the back of the vehicle.

Quincy was very nice. I met him again in New York at Miles apartment and a third time in Montreux, Switzerland for the annual jazz festival in 1991. This was a special occasion because Miles played with the Gil Evans Jr. Orchestra. As you know, Gill Evans Sr. was a close friend of Miles and collaborator on many albums, among them “Sketches of Spain”, a masterpiece.”

A Production For Ettore Salon & Spa

…..A call came in to the studio from Noel Zayas, freelance creative director, to produce pictures for Ettore Salon & Spa. Ettore was planning to celebrate their 10th year in business by throwing a huge party at the famous Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. They wanted TWS to produce pictures of beautiful young women to promote the elaborate public celebration. We started working the phones casting for talent.

A large number of potential models showed up for the casting call, it was hard to say no to any of them. Here are a few of my favorites……

Classic Beauty

This One Was So Demure

Party Girl

A Tribute To A Father

….. He was seated in his living room when I visited one day with his son, my confidant and good friend Tony Colagreco. Tony had been asking me for some time to meet his father and to see the drawing’s that he was creating in his living room over the years. As Lou-Pop (as he was affectionately called) got older, he wasn’t as mobile as he used to be, so he often occupied his time by making whimsical drawings of things from his fantasies or from found objects around his home. A variety of subject’s and a substantial body of work evolved from time well spent at his living room chair. Lou-Pop proudly displayed his works on the walls of his home and had a story to tell, for any one that would listen, about each and every drawing he created with the passing of time.

An Art Filled Living Room

The first thing I did when I arrived, was to photograph Tony in the living room where his father found his inspiration. This was the place where his best friend spent many days drawing.

Objects Of Inspiration

There were lot’s of figurines around the home, many of which were representative of the embodiment of women. Lou-Pop loved women, in all age’s, shapes and sizes.

Busty Figurine

He also surrounded himself with classical reproduction’s of women as subject’s in paintings and then surrounded those framed works with his own art. The room was transformed in to a multi-dimensional art installation, serving as an altar for the remaining desires of his life.

Woman Painting

Betty Boop was one of Lou-Pop’s favorite subjects…….

Lou-Pops Version Of Betty Boop

R.I.P. Lou-Pop

Photographed On Her 18th Birthday

….I was getting to know the booker’s at the Elite Modeling agency in Beverly Hills at the time. It was a beautiful day in Los Angeles on September 15th, 1995. I had some time to contact the agency after my morning shoot to see if there were any new models to test in the afternoon as my schedule would allow. They checked back after about an hour to tell me they had a young model to send for that afternoon. She was already on her way over to my hotel for hair and makeup. That was perfect, because I knew by the time my makeup artist got her ready, the sun would be setting over the Pacific, where I liked to shoot at Venice Beach. They also informed that it was the model’s birthday and that she just turned 18, her name was Guinevere van Seenus. I waited with excitement and anticipation as I always do when I am working with a new talent for the first time. Little did I know the person who was about to arrive would soon become an international super model.

I opened the door to my room to greet Guinevere, the first thing that I noticed was her size. She was unlike the really skinny girls that regularly appear on the catwalk, this girl had meat on her bones and a nice full bosom.

The next thing that I noticed were the cheek bones and the eyes, realizing instantly that she was photogenic. Then it was time to see if she could model.

Venice Beach With Guinevere

Guinevere could model all right. Confident in her body, easy to work with and a face that has natural expression, a rare find. A couple of month’s later, the agency informed me that she was flown over to Paris where she took the city by storm. The rest is fashion modeling history.
Confident, determined and ready to make a small fortune….

The Death Of Miles

…..After the death of his friend Miles Davis, guest blogger Mikel Elam returned to Philadelphia to continue on with his painting. It was around that time that I was introduced to Mikel by a mutual friend. I was interested in meeting anyone that knew anything about Miles. So when my friend told me that Miles former assistant was back in town, I immediately wanted to meet him. In many way’s I idolized the jazz legend. I was introduced to his music at a very early age. Jazz music was a focal point of life growing in the Ward household.

My father, Milton Ward adored Miles Davis and so did many of his peers. His groundbreaking album “Kind of Blue”, became an auditory mantra in our home, as well as the many collaborations that Miles produced with other noted performer’s including Gil Evans. Mikel Elam became an encyclopedia of information about Miles, intimate knowledge that any fan would love to learn about. Mikel and I have shared many evening’s reflecting about the life and time’s of the man that was ” Miles Ahead” and here for the first time at Tony Ward Studio, in his own word’s talks about the legends last days….

Solo Works By Mikel Elam

“Near the end of his life Miles commissioned me to create five new painting’s for his Central Park Apartment. One of the last thing’s he said to me in the hospital before his death was, how much he appreciated my artwork and growth as a person. Miles will never know how inspirational he was to me.

There are two things which we can be certain. After birth there will be death. Yet when it happens we are always shocked. It seems like Miles worked almost to the last day of his life, excluding the three weeks in a coma before his passing. The last show was at The Hollywood Bowl. There were the usual legions of celebrities waiting to get a glance, or a few words with the great maestro. I saw Marlon Brando standing outside the entrance of our dressing room. It was a beautiful night.

After the show, Miles rode back to his Malibu home without me. He told me to order some art supplies as he was taking a few week’s off to paint. “Have them delivered”, he said in his raspy voice.

I now lived in Los Angeles full time and Miles was happy I had created a new life for myself out there. He encouraged the move even though he often quoted he was a die hard New Yorker. I began to get concerned when I did not hear from him for several day’s as we usually spoke by phone daily sometimes just to bounce some thought’s around. I called but there was no answer.

One of our mutual friends, Marie Christine called to tell me he was in the hospital. I called him at St. John’s and Miles told me he was only going to be there for one to two day’s, just to check his lung’s. He was prone to pneumonia and was diabetic, so extra precaution’s were taken by hospital staff. He asked me to bring him some friend chicken from a place near where I lived in Hollywood.

I arrived at the hospital and found him sitting in a chair in his room. He was very happy to see me. He was watching television. We talked about everything. He was full of compliment’s for me. I was surprised, as he was always supportive, yet in a less sentimental way. This time it was different, like a father talking to his son.

The next day Miles went into a coma brought on by a stroke. He laid in his hospital bed for about three week’s with his family and closest friend’s around, all hoping he would pull through.

Family had to investigate so many issues. Miles was very close to his brother Vernon and his sister Dorothy. Unfortunately they didn’t have a clue about how to handle his affair’s. I tried to help them with what I knew, yet I only had a small knowledge of his vast empire.

I didn’t expect him to die. Miles was incredibly resilient even though I realized he had a great number of maladies. Somehow he always managed to keep moving, like a phoenix rising out of the ashes.

Many of his friend’s in the inner circle were in a state of shock. Some said thing’s like, “I just talked to him yesterday, he sounded great”. There was a fall tour planned. We all thought we would continue on that splendid journey that everyone knew so well. Now the journey is in my head, even though it has been eighteen year’s since his passing. I still think about Europe in the fall, Japan in the summer, South America in winter and North America in between.”

www.MikelElam.com

Assignment Neiman Marcus Handbags

…..One of the many things that is great about shooting for Neiman Marcus are the models that the photographer’s get to work with. The call came in to the studio from design team Bennett.Elia, based in Dallas, Texas. I knew immediately it was going to be a fun production, because I had worked with these designers in the past. They do things first class. The first thing we discussed was the assignment, a location shoot to produce pictures of handbags for the retail giant. In the trade it’s called, “on figure” marketing, the main emphasis is selling the product, but a fashion model must be wearing the consumer good.

Over the next couple of days, emails flowed back and forth as we poured over hundred’s of set cards of models on-line. We were able to draw from all over the country because Neiman Marcus pay’s well and the big model’s love to work for them as do the photographers. We settled on the lovely Miss Emina Cunmulaj, the Michigan born beauty to Albanian parent’s.

Neiman Marcus Handbags

She resided in Yugoslavia until the age of seventeen, and then returned to the United States, where she was discovered by Elite Model Management. I have worked with many models over the years, known more memorable than Emina, the perfect mannequin. She was a delight to work with and I never witnessed a model strike a better pose, on one take than her! If it only could always be so easy……

Guest Blogger Mikel Elam On Miles

….Mikel Elam spent several years globetrotting with the legend, Miles Davis, as his personal assistant. Very few people have had the opportunity to spend time with the jazz master both in and out of the spot light. In his own word’s Mikel blogs about his personal relationship with Miles, and yes the paintings they worked on together……

Mikel Elam Painted With Miles

…..”I met Miles in October of 1987. I was moving from one freelance job to another disenchanted with my adult life as an artist. A friend of mine who knew Miles introduced me to him and we clicked immediately. Miles asked if I would travel with him as his on the road assistant. Our day to day activities included traveling the world to perform shows, attend press conferences, photo shoots for magazines and advertising campaigns for various companies. During the initial days of working for him, Miles was finishing his soon to be released memoirs and then a little later his first starring role in a film entitled, “Dingo”.

A lesser known activity for Miles was creating paintings and drawings wherever we traveled and whenever there was a free moment he explored this passion with great enthusiasm. One of my special asset’s was a good knowledge of artist materials as I have a BFA degree in painting.

I often observed Miles while he was drawing and painting and as time passed, he began to ask me to contribute some of my ideas to his canvases. For about one year I said no, out of pure fear. I had placed my own artistic career in a bubble thinking one day I would burst that bubble and work on my painting’s again. I had lost my drive mostly because the day-to-day survival of working for Miles had become a grueling process. Working for him and being on the road constantly was both exciting and all consuming.

Miles told me at his Malibu home one day, “Mikel you have to learn to do many thing’s at one time.” He had a big canvas laid out on a large worktable. He stated in a very serious way, “Put some paint on this canvas”. I decided to try and paint again, as it was late at night and I did not have him around to look over my shoulder. The next morning he got up before me and when I went downstairs he looked at the canvas and said, “Mikel it’s a motherfucker”. That was his way of expressing that he enjoyed what I had done.” Several more collaborations with Miles were soon to follow.”……

Art By Mikel And Miles

…to learn more about Mikel Elams Artwork, log on to http://www.mikelelam.com