Jason Eskenazi

Whilst browsing what I consider to be the best blog for photojournalism, Lens @ the New York Times, I came across Jason Eskenazi. And, as can be expected, he blew me away.

The above shot is from his project Vanishing Points, a series of reaction shots from New Yorkers around New York City on September 11, 2001. This amazing series of images can be viewed here. Armed with what appears to be a single wide-angle lens, a Leica, and rolls of film, Eskenazi went out and made a series of images that showed veteran calmness and virgin emotion. All of the images express a sense of disbelief, wonder, and confusion. The faces of the people on the streets capture unbridled responses, reactions to the most horrific scene New Yorkers of this generation had been privy to. In each of the frame, I see a piece of New York's infinite and underlying spirit; it floods the memories of the days shortly thereafter of the similar feelings we all had. I, no more than a boy, remember moments of utter confusion and amazement coupled with too much information and not enough answers. Too young perhaps to fully comprehend the event at the time (I was 13, after all), these images allow me to re-investigate a situation that through flashes and winces, I remember vividly as a ball of confusion and a blur of disaster and fear.

Furthermore, he put together a pretty interesting mulitmedia piece with some interesting interviews for Time Magazine, which can be viewed here.

Lastly, this is the image that brought me unto his work. There is so much to say about this image, that I'll opt to say nothing. Just look at it. It's pretty damn good.

What make me happiest to come across Eskenazi's work is that this is all he's done. He's 49, and though I'm not positive, seems to have happened into photojournalism as he grew older. Last night, I was talking with my mom about how I don't want to finish college, though I will. I explained that there isn't a major for what I want to do, which is to be basically a vagabond for a few years and put together books. I plan to move to South America, bum around and just live my life, writing and shooting photographs as I see fit. Working from job to job shouldn't bother anyone, especially if they're not in the fields one plans to pursue actual recognition in. For me, it's so much that the journey is the destination, and I don't have any problem with being 50 before anyone starts to give a shit about my work, if ever. I feel you should be out there doing work for yourself, and no one else. Working here at Magnum, I see so much work of people that just kept shooting, shooting, shooting and then one day reviewed all of their work and was like, "Oh yeah, hey, I could probably make a book out of this stuff." Sebastiao Selgado, Danny Lyon, Chris Steele Perkins, Bob Adelman, Erich Hartmann; they all seem to have done this, and I admire them each equally. The point is to be out there shooting, and maybe one day, after years of doing something else, you'll turn out a book that people kind of like.

And, the Kings of Convenience - Mrs Cold, for you.