Biography

Jesse's first camera arrived on his sixth birthday as a present from his father, celebrated photographer Simpson Kalisher. A darkroom soon followed. While raised by his mother, over the years Jesse worked with his father both in the darkroom and as his assistant. Yet despite his enthusiasm for the medium, when it came time to go to college and consider a career, Jesse took his father’s advice and focused on anything but photography.

A decade long career in advertising and marketing followed. During that time, Jesse worked for BBDO, Grey Advertising, The Clorox Company and J. Walter Thompson. He created marketing plans and advertising for brands ranging from Fresh Step Cat Litter to Oral-B toothbrushes and Sprint. If you’re of the right age, you might remember the long-running Sprint ad campaign with Candace Bergen. He helped create those. Despite his professional success, Jesse was unfulfilled and in December '95, Jesse gave his final notice and resigned his position as a VP, Management Supervisor with J. Walter Thompson.

In early January ‘96, Jesse boarded a plane for Hanoi and two months of untold adventures. He carried with him a simple point and shoot camera. It was during his first few days in Vietnam that he looked through the small viewfinder and had an epiphany. He had seen a few kids playing badminton on an otherwise deserted early morning street, lifted that camera to his eye and expected to see a snapshot. He saw instead a tableau filled with meaning. And in that very instant he re-discovered his love affair with photography.

Jesse met his wife Helen at the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala. The two avid travelers went on to backpack through Central America together and then, in 2001 & 2002 around the world. They have two children, Jordan and Tamar and at the end of 2003 they moved from San Francisco to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where they live today.

In addition to private collections throughout the world, Jesse’s photography is in the permanent collections of many museums including The Louvre, The Smithsonian, The George Eastman House, The de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and many more. Of note, the first photographs of Barack Obama acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History were Jesse’s.

Jesse’s fine art reproductions also fill hotels across the nation, including Sheratons, Hyatts, Hiltons, Best Westerns and many more. “Interior Designers and their clients are the new Medici’s of the world,” Jesse says. “They appreciate art and help fund its creation. I am eternally grateful for their unwavering support.”

Jesse’s book “if you find the Buddha” was published by Chronicle Books and released in 2006 to great reviews. “If You Find The Buddha” includes 93 color images that Jesse captured in both the U.S. and in Thailand each of which depicts Buddha as part of everyday life.

Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, has declared Jesse, “A talented artist,” while Drew Johnson, the Photography Curator at The Oakland Museum of California calls Jesse, “an important photographer in the tradition of Dorothea Lange.” Private collector and noted Beverly Hills Interior Designer, Barbara Lazaroff said that, “Jesse provides a stunning perspective on our world.”

Jesse is on the faculty at the Maine Media Workshops where he teaches an advanced course in black and white photography every year. In 2006, Jesse signed an agreement to lead photo expeditions for Regent Seven Seas Cruises as part of their inaugural “Circles of Interest” programs. “This was an exciting development,” Jesse says, explaining that it allowed him to share his passion for photography and travel with like-minded folks and all in a fabulous setting. In 2010, Jesse created and led his inaugural Tahiti Photography Workshop in partnership with Paul Gauguin cruises. And in 2011, Jesse is slated to lead The Tahiti Photography Workshop, a workshop in Alaska in partnership with Silver Seas Cruises and, of course, to teach his Maine Media Workshop.

In addition to Jesse’s many appearances on radio and television, Jesse is also an accomplished storyteller, having performed his one-man show, “We’re Not the Tourists You’re Looking For,” at The Marsh Theater in San Francisco for and having shared the stage at a North Carolina Storytelling event in 2010 alongside Elizabeth Edwards and Emmy award winning writer Michael Malone.

Jesse’s photography is sponsored by Nikon, Lexar/Crucial Media, Adobe, and Lowepro backpacks. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Art Business News, Black and White Magazine, Art & Living Magazine and Interior Design Magazine. His blog and YouTube channel filled with photography tips videos (and outtakes) are popular as is his website, www.kalisher.com.

“I am fascinated by the world we live in,” Kalisher says, “and I consider myself lucky to be able to photograph it.”

Artist Statement

"I am attracted equally to stories, ideas and aesthetic. The challenge I set for myself is to find moments and create pictures that stimulate the viewer on more than one level. A great photograph (for me) is one in which both the aesthetic and the meaning fight equally for our attention. It’s easy to create a pretty picture. It’s easy to create a photograph with a meaningful story. But create a picture that has both elements and you’ve got a treasure. These images are rare and difficult to make, and thus my most treasured achievement.

I deny the need to focus on a single style or category. Making one’s reputation creating the same artistic concept repeatedly is over-rated and I would die of boredom were I required to do so. Instead, I thrive on finding new challenges with my camera and exploring a full range of subject matter from street photography to landscapes to architecture.

I believe in the camera as a vehicle for capturing what actually exists in life, as a window into human achievement and the human condition. I see my role, therefore, as an observer. If I manage to capture something with my camera that strikes a chord in others, one which perhaps amuses or enlightens, or even accomplishes both at once, then I have succeeded at something wonderful."

— Jesse Kalisher

Contact Information

Jesse Kalisher Gallery
209 E. Main Street
Carrboro, NC 27510

Email:
Phone: (919) 967-4300
Fax: (919) 929-4833

BY APPOINTMENT