EXTRA INFO
| Born just outside of New Orleans, Skip Bolen took his first photo at the age of 8 with a Kodak Instamatic 124 camera where he soon developed an early fascination with photography. His family traveled quite a bit and someone had to take the family pictures when his father wasn’t. Years later, graduating with a BFA in Advertising and Design, he moved to New Orleans to pursue a career as a graphic designer and art director in publishing by day while photographing in clubs at night with an Olympus OM-2 camera - one of the first bands he photographed were The Ramones. Following his dreams years later, he moved off to New York City and landed a job at Conde Nast Publications as a junior art director under Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Editorial Director/Artist Alexander Liberman where he had constant access to amazing photography and soon developed an interest in the photographic works of such giants as Edward Steichen, Horst P. Horst, Cecil Beaton, Henry Clarke, Philippe Halsman and many other great Conde Nast photographers of years past. He spent most of his time after hours in New York galleries studying photography while spending late nights in Greenwich Village Jazz clubs where the work of Blue Note jazz photographer Francis Wolff soon heavily influenced him. While in NYC, he studied for a short while at the International Center of Photography where he acquired a greater understanding of lighting, and black and white photography. After living in New York City for several years, he moved back home to New Orleans to pursue his photography full time where he bought his first Leica and a set of Leica lenses - mostly to photograph New Orleans jazz musicians in his French Quarter studio and in clubs. He was influenced and inspired by the extraordinary photographic works of his dear friend, jazz photographer Herman Leonard. After living in New Orleans again for several years, he headed out west to Los Angeles to work as Creative Director at the House of Blues which offered him an inside advantage and backstage access with opportunities of photographing musicians behind-the scenes and on-stage in both clubs and concerts. He soon became a freelance contributor for several publications and a WireImage photographer - shooting live music, red carpet events and Hollywood premieres. Realizing yet again it was time to move on after living in Los Angeles for several years, Skip decided to move back home to New Orleans in 2006 to photo-document the rebuilding and recovery of New Orleans after post-Hurricane Katrina and to once again pursue his personal photography full-time. Today, he now lives in New Orleans and travels regularly to Los Angeles and New York City pursuing his own photography projects while constantly chasing after freelance assignments. Additionally he shoots a variety of NY Fashion Week and entertainment related events for Getty Images and WireImage.com. He is a member of IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) and works as a unit stills photographer in the motion picture and television industry. Skip’s personal projects include photographing the music scene and documenting the disappearing historic landscape of vintage signs, old water towers, telephone poles, historic architecture, cemeteries and other points of interest in New York City, Los Angeles and across the South primarily in his hometown of New Orleans. Skip Bolen’s photographs are in public and private collections, among them the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and Louisiana State Museum. His photography has appeared in various publications including The New York Times, Life, Rolling Stone, Vogue, New York Post, US Weekly, Elle, MTV, VH-1, New York Magazine, Jazz Times, Downbeat, and many others. Skip Bolen was the unit photographer for HBO’s season two finale of “True Blood” and HBO’s pilot “Treme” by David Simon, and was the unit photographer on TNT’s Season One and Two of “Memphis Beat”. Skip Bolen is represented internationally by Getty Images and WireImage.com. Several of his music images can be purchased from RockPaperPhoto.com Much of Skip Bolen’s work can be seen at www.SkipBolenStudio.com and www.SkipBolen.com PHOTO: Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour at the Thakoon Fall 2012 Fashion Show at the Plaza Hotel on 12 February 2012 in New York City. |
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