My Week ~ The "Back Of" Page

May 5, 2005
05/05/05

"I am a private individual who has just started to collect fine art photos of musician/artist with a twist: I am very interested in photos taken with the subjects back to the camera, where their face is not visible. If you have any such photos in your portfolio I would be like to speak further."

Thus I began to mine an unexpected though exceptional vein of my work.

When I first read N.B.'s letter (he wishes to remain anonymous) I thought "Uh oh, here comes another one out of the woodwork?" The gent turned out to be a collector with a unique passion.

The more time I spent on this mini journey 'mining' my archives, the more I appreciated his personal vision because, let's face it, as a photojournalist I had assumed the reflex notion that a musicians face was of primary interest to myself and my audience, not to mention the art director. The fact that I even captured these rarities in the first place is, well, more and more interesting to me.

N.B. later shared that when he hung these pieces in his office he purposely covered with a matte my signature as well as the description of who the artist is. In this way he could bring a friend or client to his gallery wall and ask "OK, who is it?" I like that gambit and now will let you guess who these artists might be. To find out- just click and hold down the menu button.

To view the other "Back Of" photos click HERE