CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

…….. Lexi Love arrived on set in Los Angeles about two hours early to have her hair and make up done by Lee Garland, the famous Hollywood makeup artist to the stars of the adult film industry. Small, petite and very unassuming when you meet her, Lexi is the epitome of professionalism when she arrives to perform her scene. Born in 1980, of Sicilian and German descent, she started acting in erotic films in September of 2004 at the age of 23. Lexi has lived for many years in San Francisco where she studied chemical engineering before entering the adult entertainment business.

Her unassuming nature was quickly transformed in to the sexual diva that made her famous when our conversation turned to the script for the twenty minute clip we were to create that day. Lexi appeared in scene three of the film the studio produced and directed titled; Nylon Nymphomania, for the Private Media Group, based in Barcelona, Spain.
Lexi currently owns and operates her own adult entertainment company, Lexi Love Entertainment and is trade marked by the United States government…….

Lexington Steele

…..Several weeks ago a controversy was raised by the posting of a Lexington Steele portrait in repose on Facebook by this studio. It was brought to our attention from a reader of our blog that posting the nude photo was a violation of Facebook policy. The posting was removed from Facebook immediately. It is not the intention of this studio to challenge the rules and regulations of Facebook. However it is important to note that we have witnessed countless violations of Facebook policy floating around on various user accounts, not the least of which was a recent poll being taken on Facebook as to whether or not President Obama should be assassinated. The controversial poll reached a fever pitch and landed on the news desk of national media at which time the secret service rightly so asked Facebook executives to shut the poll down.

The language that was used by the reader of our blog, the subsequent posting of the image on Facebook and the way that he described his reasoning for the removal of the image, raised questions about the use of language as it applies to issues of sex, gender and race in our society. We asked several guest bloggers to respond to the comments that were made. Here is the statement that raised the controversy; “I’m sure no one has had occasion to find fault with any of the intriguing photos you post on Facebook, including those that violate the Facebook policy of No Nudity. When my wife and I look at our Facebook pages at home, our daughter is often nearby, I had a bit of trouble explaining to a 5 year old why there was a picture of a dark man with no clothes on. When it comes to full frontal shots, please dial it back a bit.”

The response from the guest bloggers were published in an earlier post and were not colored by a studio mandate or objective. The person who wrote the statement took offense to the response from our guest’s and sent the following rebuttal which we agreed to publish unedited and has chosen to remain anonymous.

Lexington Steele

“This is a follow up to a recent post on your blog regarding a photo that you put on your Facebook page.  The event deserves a bit of analysis.  First, you posted a full frontal shot of a naked man on a family-friendly webpage (and it’s a major challenge to my powers of belief to think that someone with your intelligence was unaware of the Facebook policy against nude photos, but right now I don’t want to pile additional allegations on top of the ones I’m about to discuss).  After the photo was posted, as you note on your blog, “…the studio received a number of email comments in reference to the post,” and I’m willing to bet that most of them were negative and made you feel uncomfortable.  At that point, the ethical and responsible thing to do would have been to acknowledge that your action offended some people, and the appropriate response would have been to apologize to the people who you made uncomfortable.  Instead, you decided to see if you could get around it, possibly by recontextualizing your action as artistically or culturally justifiable.

You sent me an email saying that “Your recent comments about the Lex posting created an opportunity to get reactions from guest bloggers that review the site daily.”  The accurate, scientific, and ethical approach in researching people’s reactions to your posting of the photo on Facebook would have been to survey several dozen randomly selected Facebook users (including professional artists), and to post their thoughts.  But instead, you hand-picked some friends who you knew would agree with your perspective.  Referring to yourself in the royal editorial first person plural, you said, “We asked guest bloggers, Mikel Elam, Yoko Grosshans and Atomic Bombshell to read the email and offer comments in response…” You posted my objection and then printed the disparaging comments written by your associates, all of which belittled my opinion and created the impression of substantiating your position.  In doing so, you seemed to want to imply that any objections to what you did, as exemplified in my original quoted statement, were erroneous, provincial, reflective of outmoded values, and not worth taking seriously.  So in your blog, using my words as a general target and your friends’ opinions as ammunition, you dissed the values and perspectives of the people like me who complained.

Note that I did not fault your use of the Steele photo by commenting on it in a public arena such as Facebook; as I recall, no one else did either.  Yet you arranged for the faulting of my opinion in the very public arena of your blog.  Instead of responding to me in private, one on one and man to man, you chose to set up my opinion so that it would be publicly insulted.  The fact that the maligning of my words did not involve the mention of my name, and that the derogatory statements were written by “guest bloggers” rather than by you, makes no difference.  My words are an extension of myself just as the photos you create are an expression of you.  When you cause my words to be defamed in order to disdain my perspective, that’s a personal affront.  You could have prevented the entire incident from becoming a public display if you wanted to.  But again, I believe you wanted to vindicate yourself on a larger scale, whether you were consciously aware of it or not.

The crux of the problem as it affected me stems from the fact that you quoted colleagues who clumsily used several misleading and flawed argumentation formats known as the Straw Man Fallacy and the Ad Hominem Error. Each of these deflects attention away from the main issue—in this case, violating website regulations that reflect cultural norms—by instead casting aspersions on the character of the person expressing the opposing view.  Thus, at this point, the “guest comments” turned into personal attacks.  Although you presented me as an anonymous commentator, that doesn’t matter.  You and I know that I was the one whose character you allowed to be vilified with slanderous terms such as hypocrisy and racism—and in regard to the latter, permit me to quote and respond to the colorful language used by one of my detractors: “Mandingo Syndrome” my ass.

In doing all this, you attempted to make yourself look good to a larger audience.  On a personal level, you did this at my expense.  That was an unethical act, and a betrayal of trust.  Had I printed out some of your photos and hung them on dartboards, it would have been an act of derision equivalent to what you did to me.  But as your friend of three decades, I have more respect for you than to libel the artistic messages you create.  I wish you had shown the same level of tact.

To sum up: you wanted (a) to dismiss and/or circumvent the opinion and values of those who took offense at your posting of the Steele photo in a public forum, and (b) to exonerate yourself in the process.  You chose to do this rather than address the original issue of showing full frontal male nudity on a family friendly website in violation of website rules and public mores, for which an appropriate response would have been to extend an apology to those who were bothered by it.”

Post by Corey Armpriester

Amsterdam and Philly and Computerland

CA-Amsterdam seems just right for you on many levels; think about the Tulip and two lips being the vaginal lips. Have you ever thought about doing an erotic shoot in a field of Tulips or is that redundant?
TW- It’s actually a wonderful idea, I would be very compelled by something like that, and now that you gave me the idea, you may see that picture in the near future.

CA-Do you have a favorite Philadelphia artist?
TW-Hands down George Krause, he was one of my early mentors in the ’70s and after meeting him I invited him to Rochester to lecture when I was studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and he stayed as a guest in my home for a weekend which was unbelievable for a 24-year-old photography student. Even these days when I look at his work, it remains top shelf.

CA-Are you enthusiastic about art or photography?
TW-I feel enthusiastic about digital media, the internet, specifically blogs. I think that is where artists should move their work forward, by creating their own community around the work.

CA-I’ve been to your blog and it feels like an explosion of yes.
TW-I appreciate that because for the first time in several years I feel like my creativity has been invigorated. Whenever you go through personal struggles like a divorce or illness or death in the family, it’s very draining on the creative process. I’ve catapulted all of my energies into a daily commitment to the blog. I encourage any artist young or old, if you don’t have a blog or a website or email address to get those things so you can become part of the digital world.

CA-Is there any way of escaping that?
TW-No, it’s like if you need glasses. It’s part of the process now.

CA- You see it as an empowering tool?
TW-Absolutely, you become your own publisher.

CA-Empowerment through electronic media?
TW-One hundred percent. I’ll take it a step further; I think galleries as a vehicle to show work these days is passé.

CA-Really!
TW-Yes, the frontier for showing uninhibited work is on the internet.

CA-How do you balance reaching for the stars and accepting reality as it exist?
TW-There is no balance. The artist must have an unwavering commitment to what they believe in and must maintain this unique position.

CA-Do you mentor artists?
TW- I’m constantly mentoring artists.

CA-What is it about human sexuality that makes you seek it out and explore it? What happened in your childhood?
TW-It’s what happened when I studied art history. I saw a lot of great things–I saw great painting and great ancient art, great sculpture, and then I started to see a lot of photography and when I looked at all of that work I said, you know what’s lacking in this great canon of art that I studied? Where’s the human sexuality? That was lacking in my view of art history.

CA-Do you think it was cleverly disguised?
TW-It was disguised in allegorical paintings but hard core sexuality, which is part of human existence, was never seriously addressed.

CA-Does the name Pindar mean anything to you?
TW-No, I don’t know Pindar. What is it?

Tony And Tony

CA- You have a photograph on your website that is a portrait of you and Tony Ward (model/actor/artist) you’re both wearing sexy short shorts and slogan t-shirts that say “I am Tony Ward” (I am=God, esoteric symbol) and Tony Ward (model) is feeding you something that looks like a cigar and you’re blowing smoke out of your nose while the other Tony Ward is touching his penis. This trinity of symbols made me think of Pindar, the golden penis of the dragon/lizard that lives in the South of France. Are you familiar with this myth and legend?

TW-It’s interesting you bring up mythology and the esoteric; I have heard these kinds of connections to my work before. People may not know but I meditate twice a day. Who knows, maybe just a subliminal thing. On a practical side, the way that t-shirt came about was Helmut Newton’s former stylist Sascha Lilic saw my book Orgasm in a book store in Europe. He was creative director of Spoon magazine at the time and sent a message to his editor in New York to contact me about us working together. I thought he was looking for Tony Ward the model. So I contacted Sascha and suggested we do a shoot with Tony Ward. Tony Ward shoots Tony Ward (the model) and Sascha loved it. We met in LA to produce the shoot where Tony resides and that’s really how that photograph came about.

CA-You seem to be more and more involved in the world of celebrity. Is there anything about that world that frightens you?
TW-The more famous you are the less autonomy you have.

Actress Thandie Newton

Post by Corey Armpriester

CA-Can an artist be successful without an agent or gallery representation?
TW-That’s a problem with the art scene over the past 10 to 20 years. The galleries and the collectors became the power brokers in the art world instead of the artists and the artist almost became secondary to the art. You don’t need a big name gallery a big name museum or a big name collector verifying your importance; that is something you have to establish yourself and that is what will draw your audience, not the other way around.

CA-Why do you live in Philadelphia?
TW-This is where I was born and raised and I have family here and I’m a very family oriented person, Philly is home.

Family, assistants

CA-Do you think having a family hinders the artist in any way as far as resources and time that can be given to the work?
TW-No question, that was one of the hard things about my marriage and raising a family. It’s always an underlying drive, the work comes first. Any artist of merit will say the Art comes first.

CA-How does your family deal with that and what is the consequence?
TW-The consequence in my case is divorce. Unfortunately my 23 years of marriage to my wife Sandy has started to unravel through divorce proceedings. It’s an unfortunate circumstance.

CA-Do you ever allow the assistant to take the photograph?
TW-No, my assistants generally take care of my post production needs and they also help me on the actual shoot, but I never give them the responsibility of taking the shot and then me putting my name to it; that would never happen.

CA-Is there something unethical about that?
TW-No, Andy Warhol had the factory; it’s really up to the individual artist to decide.

CA-Do you practice sex magic?
TW-I’m not gonna get into my personal sex life.

CA-What? Tony Ward is afraid to talk about sex!?
TW-I’m not afraid to talk about sex. I think there’s a thing called love and I think there’s a thing called sex and the two are not necessarily the same; does that answer your question?
CA-Yes.

CA-Is the Muse necessary?
TW-The Muse is like having coffee in the morning.

CA-Is feminism contributing to the destruction of the family?
TW-No, I don’t think feminism is the thing that destroys families, there’s a lack of a long term commitment.
CA-People will be surprised that Tony Ward is coming to the defense of feminism; that’s very bizarre.
TW-I’m not committed to the idea of feminism. Who am I to say a feminist viewpoint is right or wrong. What I prefer to do is through my work ask more questions about a variety of cultural issues.

CA-Is photography stupid?
TW-Photography is simple, not stupid; even with all the cameras out there people still take very mundane pictures that don’t need to proliferate the planet. In the proper hands, it’s really a rewarding medium.

CA-Could you talk about light?
TW-There’s no such thing as good light or bad light

CA-Artificial and natural light are equal?
TW-There’s no mandate from the art gods indicating what type of light one should work with.

CA-Amsterdam is
TW-My second home.

CA-Do you have a favorite coffee shop and do you eat Space Cakes?
TW-No, no Space Cakes for me. I know too many Dutch friends that have carted Americans off to hospitals because of those space cakes.

CA-One Space Cake is not going to send you to the hospital.
TW-I know that Mick Jagger has been taken back to the hotel on occasion.

Part 3 of the interview will be posted tomorrow…..

……
Post by Corey Armpriester

With art, cigarettes and sex on my mind, I sit down with Philadelphia’s very own agent provocateur, photographer Tony Ward, for a little talk, revealing a man with drive and ambitions fueled by art and costing him his marriage. Art as home wrecker–I’m sure spouses of artists can understand such a thing.

The Philadelphia photographer’s work runs the gamut from high art to low, from gallery exhibits to Bob Guccione and Penthouse Magazine. Sitting across the table from Tony Ward, I get the impression he has the confidence of a man whose ancestors follow him around everywhere he goes, except during moments of silence, his eyes share a melancholy and introspection he tightly controls; I suspect this recipe is a powerful source of seduction (the emotional tease).

If you’re an artist and have ever fantasized about traveling and exhibiting your work in galleries around the world, selling your art for thousands of dollars and having it stored in international museum collections while working on your sixth book in-between, and working on a constant stream of magazine spreads, then Tony Ward is living out your dreams in his life. How did that happen? What does it take to get that far? He talks about art patronage, feminism, space cakes, Thandie Newton and agents re-emerging to assist him in making the right introductions. He gives both the carnage and inspiration of art life, yearning for itself.

Ward will be showing some of his work at The University of Pennsylvania’s Fox Gallery, Feb. 17 to March 5, 2010.
Corey Armpriester-Germany has been very good to you, what is your relationship to the German people?
Tony Ward-It’s so true that Germany was a spring board for me. What happened was my agent in New York was Henrietta Brackman; she came out of retirement to represent me. Henrietta introduced me to Ursula Kreis, another well known New York agent who introduced me to the right people at the right time, which resulted in my having shows in Hamburg, Berlin and other German cities.

CA-Are you surprised that your photograph titled, “The Figure” sold for $18,000?
TW-I wasn’t really that surprised, only because I think it’s one of my best works; a gallery in Paris decided to invest in a print that warrants that kind of price, and a collector I met at the opening bought the piece.

The patron

CA-How important was Bob Guccione to your career? (Guccione is founder and once publisher of Penthouse magazine).
TW-Bob Guccione was pivotal because during 1995, I was producing a lot of free work, work for myself, and I was getting into a very creative zone. A friend of mine that had worked along side of Bob in the ’80s suggested I send Bob a portfolio. I sent a set of prints to his house on 16 East 67th Street in NYC; after he saw those prints he decided to feature me in the September 1996 Anniversary Issue, 16 pages that launched my career in the adult print industry. He was my patron of the arts for almost 10 years; I had an open checkbook to produce as much material as he could publish for many years. That’s what enabled me to travel to Europe so much.

CA-Do you think the grain in your photographs distinguishes your work from pornography?
TW-There’s certainly artifice built into the structure of my work to try and avoid the stigma of being labeled a pornographer, because the facts are that I was engaged in these kinds of shoots really looking for a means to express the art of it not the sex of it.

CA-Do you think the grain gets in the way of using the images as a masturbatory aid?
TW-I never considered my images to be masturbatory at all. In fact someone came up to me once and said, “Tony I find your images masturbatory”; I was almost insulted or repulsed, that was the consequence of some of the work.

CA-Why is the strap-on so important?
TW-That was just a visual tool we used; it was one of the protocols, especially when shooting lesbian scenes.

CA-Using one word, describe the vagina.
TW-Flower

CA-Is branding your name a dehumanizing act?
TW-No, I think branding a name is important for survival. It’s a business decision that most artists make at some point in their career. At the end of the day, Art is a form of branding. I’m encouraging young artist to be more self-sufficient and brand themselves via the internet.

Part Two of the interview will be posted tomorrow……

Jasmin St. Claire

….Former adult film star Jasmin St. Claire once held the world record for number of sex acts in a 24-hour period with 300 men, eclipsing the previous record held by another legend in the industry, Annabel Chong. The coordination and production of these psychologically complex adult films propelled Saint Claire to “skin flick” stardom making her a frequent guest and household name on the Howard Stern show. She’s an articulate, highly intelligent businesswoman who left the financial services industry on Wall street for the bright lights of the adult film industry in Hollywood.

St. Claire subsequently picked up roles in non-pornographic independent films, appearing in a number of straight to DVD movies: Blood! Broads! And Brawls and Recipe For Disaster. She had a brief stint in ECW (Extrerme Championship Wrestling) after learning the ropes by training with former boyfriend Brian Heffron (former ECW star “The Blue Meanie”). She is currently associated with another professional wrestling organization, NWA Cyberspace, where she continues to utilize her business wits and savvy as the organizations commissioner……

www.JasminStClaire.com

Artwork Courtesy TKP Creative Group

……The posthumous documentary “This Is It” debut at the movie theaters in the past week raked in over $100,000, 000.00 in revenue. To bad that Michael Jackson is no longer with us to witness yet another one of his creative and financial achievements. We asked guest blogger, Racquel Ward to write about her impressions of the film. Art work for this post courtesy of TKP Creative Group. To learn more about TKP log on to www.tkpcreativegroup.com.

MJ By Artist Rah Crawford

Racquel Ward; “In light of his death, which was illuminated around the world, it was no surprise to me when I first heard of a Michael Jackson movie that was to be released in theaters everywhere, especially since I’ve studied culture and media at the New School University in New York. It is “my job” as a trend conscious viewer of pop culture events to predict social cultural clichés.

The movie title “This Is It” both subtly and overtly hinted at the sudden end of MJ’s existence on Earth, suggested that the movie would present that “one last moment” we all wanted to see. I was once again disheartened by the commodification of a tragedy in our media driven, sensationalist society. However, the MJ fan in me was extremely excited to see him on the big screen again, AND in concert, which I had been too young to do when he was actively performing while he was alive.

While pondering whether or not to see the movie, I quickly remembered that in order to find happiness and solitude in this possible exploitation of a great legend, I must put my criticisms aside and enjoy the silver lining. With that said, ‘This Is It’ was fabulous and satisfying! I got to see what I always knew was there; it was Michael’s spirit, energy and unprecedented talented which was captured beautifully in the documentary style movie.

Seeing Michael interact with his dancers, musicians and creative direction was a once in a lifetime, never expected dream come true. Still, we must ask ‘Is This It?” Will there be another film or album capitalizing off of Michael’s death. Sure, but who cares. Although I still have my doubts about the intention of the film and the borderline creepy social implications its production reflects, I’m glad it was made and will be added to the invaluable access we as a world have into MICHAEL.”

Marketing Widgets-Michael Jackson Movie Release

…..Ed Simmons for a long time now has been the point man for Tony Ward Studio when shooting in Los Angeles. Assistant to TW on the set in LA, accomplished photographer in his own right and blogger, writes about the pending opening of LA LIVE and Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal tapes. Photographs of Ed courtesy, Stephanievovas.com ……..

Ed Simmons Lights Up

There has never been anything like this. The only thing I can think of that come’s close is six big screens, at the Sidewalk Cafe in Venice, all tuned together, to the Andy Griffith Show. It’s a coin toss as to which has more social content. Wait a minute, its not even close; Andy Griffith gets it hands down.?p?
Well, there is still hope for the world. I saw a Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer Truck out making deliveries. There are still clubs like the Troubadour. These theaters, at LA LIVE will open in a big way. When have you heard of a movie theater complex with a grand opening covered by World Media? People are flying in from over seas, standing in line for days, to buy movie tickets. Has to be a first!

I am, and always will be, a fan of talent. As I see it, (doubtful that I will), the movie “THIS IS IT”, is about a whole lotta nothing. Videotapes of rehearsals for a concert tour, that never was. As the foundation for a documentary, about a successful Michael Jackson tour with such a demanding schedule is an important part to laying down the story. But there is no story here. This is about wringing out one more pound of flesh.

I had spent no time at LA LIVE prior to going to work in construction at the theaters. It had always been no mans land around there. Any media coverage of the area, up until now, had always been of civil unrest issues or a Laker championship victory celebration. Lot’s of coworkers in construction parked down there, while working on the towers of LA back in the eighties.

I went down looking for work once a couple years back, after returning to Los Angeles from Philly. I ran into my old boss, Jose, from the Cathedral project in Central Los Angeles. He couldn’t put me on; he had just thinned out his crew. After wrapping up work on the theaters, I thought I’d spend a little time around lunch, to see what kind of traffic moved through.

This is a sports and entertainment complex on a grand scale. Dozens of eateries line the open courtyards. I guess they got a no competition clause in their lease. The only coffee to be had is Starbucks. I was getting a little sugar and cream in my coffee during my break, when this sweet young thing came up beside me, to fix her tea. I gave her a little more room, excused my self for spreading out so much at the small counter. I’m at about that age, when young women, see me as someone sweet, fatherly, somewhat harmless. I really have fun with it.
I don’t kid myself, I’m still breathing! She said I was fine, I thanked her; I told her she was fine as well!!!

There are a lot of condominiums surrounding this complex. Not enough people making real money though to fill them up. I thought I’d find lots of people out and about at lunch, after all, about 72 degrees, clear, crisp, autumn air, any other city, this would have drawn them out for sure. I’ve heard this place has been coined the “Times Square of the Left Coast.”

I don’t think I counted more than twenty people at any given time, moving through the courtyards. That must be all wishful thinking. Maybe when the Ritz Carlton wraps up construction, all the pieces will be in place. Now here’s a crazy thought; how about an Organic Pharmacy Super Store, complete with an Old School Soda Fountain, that would sure draw some people in?

Seriously, the problem here is there is no money! More people need good jobs for something on this scale to work and trickle down doesn’t work anymore. It was only a couple of days after Michael Jackson died that work began when promoters developed their new widget. Across the news, word of rehearsal video surfaced. Suddenly, a movie that would be ready for a late October release became the latest MJ headline.

Some big deals had to be cut, timing was paramount. These folks were in court before the poor man was even in the ground! The date for the movie release wasn’t just pulled out of a hat. I worked in construction on the theaters at LA LIVE in the beginning of September. In a little more than a week on the job, I had it all figured out. There is nothing personal in business. I guess this is what makes it all OK. At the end of September it was announced, the Michael Jackson movie, a compilation of rehearsal videos that was posthumously titled, “THIS IS IT” would premiere in all fourteen new theaters, being built at LA LIVE. It is clear to me that the promoters were all over this financial opportunity. The spin was well crafted.

The public was told the rehearsals were video taped. How the world lost a tremendous talent and that the comeback of Michael Jackson would have been triumphant. We all now would have the chance to see the concert that was never to be.

Ed Blogs Yeeha.Org/Art

Street Musician, Philadelphia, 1994

……Every time I think about the life and work of Harvey Finkle, he reminds me of the good fortune he has had in his life. A beautiful life partner, close knit family and a passion for something that each day brings him great joy. That passion, to our benefit are his photographs. Following a long tradition of documentary photography, Harvey Finkle is the Mother Theresa of passionate photography. He began to excel at his lifes work in his early years, receiving a Social Work degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. From there, his education lead him to picture making which helped him define his social causes.

On Thursday, October 15th, 2009 The Constitution Center of Philadelphia will recognize his legacy. A press release has just arrived at the studio from Bread & Roses Community Fund of Philadelphia. Tickets are available at the door. You don’t want to miss this event!

Tent City, Philadelphia 1995

Tribute

The Bread & Roses Community Fund will be honoring social documentarian, Harvey Finkle, at its annual event on 10-15-09 at the National Constitution Center. Harvey is a still photographer, whose interests are social, political and cultural. His career has centered on photographing marginalized and disenfranchised people, including low income and homeless families, refugees and immigrants, the disabled and the Deaf, as well as groups working for economic justice, peace and human rights. The tribute will exhibit 75 photos reflecting the groups and people that he has photographed. His work can be seen on his website, harveyfinkle.com

www.HarveyFinkle.com

……I’m sure everyone has heard by now, a legend of Photography, Irving Penn passed away yesterday peacefully in his home in New York at the age of 92. Another legend of photographic history is gone and hundred’s of thousands of Penn fans around the world will reflect on his life’s work and how it impacted the developing visions of those that aspired to be as great as he was. I tried to find a picture in the files that represented his influence on my photography. An image came to mind that I produced in 1993, simply entitled “Hailey”.

That picture represents what I felt most about Penn’s approach to picture making. The image must possess three intangibles; taste, class and style. Only Penn’s lighting could be taught if you had the patience to truly observe what light does for a picture. He possessed the intangibles in spades and that is what I loved most about his work. It was just a few months ago that yours truly was invited to participate in a group show at Galerie Hiltawsky in Berlin to pay homage to the legendary gatekeeper of fashion at Vogue. He will be sorely missed. It’s good for the world that he left all those great pictures…….