Jesse Kalisher's: Story Behind the Picture

Who We Are…

I love this… I asked the folks here at the gallery to add some zip to our bio pages. They came up with this format, brought in their own pictures and now we have a much better window into who we really are. Wonder who the Company Muscle is? Our Cupcake Queen? It’s all online and it’s all here.

http://www.kalisher.com/who_we_are.html

Crosswalk, New York City

I grew up looking at my dad’s New York street photographs as well as those of Garry Winogrand. And so I am never happier than when I get to point my camera at a person and grab a shot that captures the spirit of a place and time. Helen, the kids and I had two mostly overcast days in New York back around Thanksgiving last year. I ran around taking shots of Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building and the like during brief bursts of sunshine. Read the rest of this entry »

A useful photography tip…

I do love lying on my back to take a picture. There’s something about melding into the sidewalk that gives an added perspective which delivers results I like. The trick is to be sure you don’t get run over (if lying down in an active road). And to keep your cameral bag secure wherever you’re lying down—here in Times Square, I was lying on my side with my pack still on my back.

Bullfighting

Bullfighting still takes place in Spain, even if it isn’t broadcast here on American television (Wide World of Sports?) like it was when I was a kid. Disclosure: We’re all vegetarians in my family and, as one might imagine, not big fans of this sport. So while I had no interest in buying a ticket to a bullfight, and certainly no interest in taking our kids Jordan and Tamar to see one, I wasn’t beyond touring one of the bullfighting arenas during the off hours. Read the rest of this entry »

Museum de Target

A very big day for us… after nearly a year of work and after jumping many hurdles, my photography is now on sale in Target stores across the country… framed, at an unbeatable price of $9.99. It’s pretty remarkable to have my work in museums across the world, have my originals sold by David Streets in Beverly Hills and The Anthem Gallery in New York for $3k and up and to also be in the Museum de Target… Read the rest of this entry »

Casa Batlló

We almost didn’t go into Casa Batlló. As amazing as that might sound, Helen and I were having a terrific day of walking around Barcelona with our kids, Jordan (5) and Tamar (3) and we seriously considered skipping the chance to walk the inside of the building. What a mistake that would have been. In our defense, the outside of the building is spectacular enough that we thought I had the important shots. And with the sun shining, it seemed important to get to the next site for more pictures. And then there are our kids. Read the rest of this entry »

iPhone Apps for Photographers

I suppose the iPhone apps for photographers are endless… or at least a provide a long list of possibilities. I stumbled upon Sunrise and Sunset Lite… it’s free and uses your phone’s location to report local sunrise and sunset times. Which is, as you might imagine, critical information for a photographer like me who shoots nearly exclusively with natural light. I also (and this should come as no surprise), found the new iPhone app from Nikon. Nikon’s app works a bit like a website Read the rest of this entry »

Markets, markets, markets!

Markets are exhilarating. The crush of people, the civility within confined spaces, the stores and street sellers all combine to create a special experience for those of us who don’t frequent such places on a regular basis. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Gehry Receives Kalisher Original

When famed interior designer and restauranteur Barbara Lazaroff tells me (as she does from time to time) that she wants to do something with my photography, my typical response is “Yes, Barbara, how soon do you need it?” When, after seeing my images of Frank Gehry’s Disney Music Hall, Barbara called and told me that she wanted to give Frank an original print of one of my images, my response was more along the lines of, “Wow, holy cow…” We made this delicious print last Spring and sent it off to Barbara with a letter to Mr. Gehry attached. Then Barbara started traveling. And Frank Gehry is always traveling… it took five months, but then in October, Barbara hand delivered her gift to Frank. I’m told he loves it… and it sits proudly in his office. Here’s a picture of Mr. Gehry just as he’s unwrapping the gift. You can see the letter from yours truly in his left hand.

The Medina, Fez

I am never more alert than when shooting in a market, or as in Fez, in the medina. Of note, the Fez Medina is reportedly the oldest living medina in the world, dating back to the Middle Ages. It’s a marvelous cacophony of lives and the food, in particular, is not to be missed. Another photograph in the collection shows our kids, Jordan and Tamar, drinking fresh squeezed orange juice from a street vendor. What I enjoy about this image is that in every area of the photograph we’ve got something going on, and that something relates to food – if you count Coca Cola as food which is truthfully a stretch in my book. Still, the donkeys carrying Coke through the medina are ubiquitous and thus an important part of telling the story of Fez. The same is true for the pushcart filled with produce. I can just about hear the man at the pushcart yelling “Balek! Balek!” as he barrels through the narrow streets (’balek’ roughly translated means ‘make way”). And then there’s the young man bringing home his dozen (or so) eggs from the market who’s looking into the camera. All in all, I enjoy the individual elements of this shot and the way they come together to make a single photograph.