Mentor Appreciation Week - Art Kane

I have been fortunate to have had very good mentors and teachers throughout my discovery and practice of photography. Sometime in the near future I will share some of the stories and learning experiences that these mentors shared with me.

Today, I would like to briefly celebrate the life of Art Kane, born Arthur Kanofsky on April 9 1925, he died February 21 1995 here is the NY Times Obituary.

Here is the link to the Art Kane Portfolio

Here is the link to the Art Directors Club page featuring Art Kane

Here is the link to the story of the picture A Great Day in Harlem

Here is the link to the "A Great Day in Harlem" film by Jean Bach

Here is the link to Harper's Magazine Art Kane & Andy Warhol portraits

Here is the link to a film made about the Ghost Army, which Art served in WWII

Now that we got that out of the way, what about the mentoring story.

I was Art Kane's First Assistant, in the mid 1980's. He taught me many things over the course of our friendship here are a few of those lessons.

Art said that good photography, will tell more than one story, and if it is really good will reveal much about the photographer.

Another variation of that concept, A good art director/designer will make a good photographer look good. A bad art director/designer will make a great photographer look bad. A great art director/designer will make a good photographer look great. He always said to only work with great art director/designer. And I do.

Edit with your gut, not with your head. Photographers tend to over think their photographs, to the seduction of the making of the pictures, or the subject, the lens we just bought, or the trendy technique. He never seconded guessed his edits.

As a former art director, Art approached each assignment or project first with a concept. He carried a pad with pen sketches and had the visual for the photograph pretty mapped out. But as true as he was to the original idea - layout, he always reminded me that even though it was good to have an idea going into a shoot, don't be afraid to change your mind once you get there. Many times after a editing a shoot, I would go back to his original sketch, something he rarely did, many times the photographs matched the sketch.

And finally, when shooting, editing or presenting your work, think like a filmmaker. If whatever it is, is not moving the scene or films intention forward, take it out. Art and I went to films, talked about films and referenced films throughout our friendship. He introduced me to BLADERUNNER, which we referenced in a number of his projects.

Thanks Art, I still have a lot to learn.