Posts for Artist

Did you catch yesterday's Fashion & Style section of the The New York Times?

In it, JMI's own Lee Clower captured the beautiful (and also particularly fashion-forward) Food Network star, Sandra Lee, for the newspaper's "What I Wore" segment. Photographed by Clower in her Manhattan home, the "Semi-Homemade Cooking" host dished about life, fashion influences, and day-to-day style choices.

If you're interested in reading the full article, be sure to visit the link above, and for more celebrity portraiture by Lee, check out the JMI site!

Lee Clower does it again!

In Sunday's issue of the New York Times, the photographer perfectly captures the playful personality of comedic genius Jesse Tyler Ferguson, star of ABC's Modern Family. Known for his role as "Mitchell" on the hit TV series, Ferguson was featured in Sunday's Fashion & Style section for the recent launch of his first fashion line: a limited edition bow-tie collection, titled "Tie the Knot," which doubles as a campaign to promote marriage equality.

To view more of Lee's celebrity portrait work, click on the image below, and for the full article, visit the New York Times site!

In today's creative industry, artists are often faced with the question of how to stay relevant, while still maintaining a distinct and unique creative perspective. Luckily, for JMI photographer LEE CLOWER, years of experience have brought him to a number of industry-essential realizations: success is born from hard work and determination, high expectations introduce positive outcomes, and ultimately, fitting in indisputibly means standing out.

JMI Reps: You've been busy! It seems as though you've been working non-stop. What's the key to success and keeping busy in a field as competitive as photography?

Lee Clower: That's an interesting question to evaluate, but I'm not sure I have an answer that would not sound like a generalization or a cliche...I think for me personally, the answer lies in a mixture of elements: determination, vision, freedom of thought...I've only recently allowed myself to acknowledge that, just because I love my work, does not mean that I'm not working hard. Somewhere in that realization is at least one essential key to my success.

JMI: To stay relevant in this field, would you say it's better to be stylistically conventional, or unconventional?

LC: Well, hopefully staying relevant comes with being unconventional, because I have no idea how to be conventional.

JMI: What would you say is the most challenging component of what you do?

LC: Interestingly, I love to be challenged...I know full well that this will sound cliche before I even say it, but I consider every shoot my most important one. The old Hollywood adage that, "you're only as good as your last picture," seems amusingly appropriate in my world... I love being on set and knowing that an image my crew and I created is simply perfect. With that in mind, it can be challenging to convince a client to move on to the next shot and keep the momentum going...I (also) find turning down a job that is just not right for my style of shooting quite difficult, if not necessarily challenging.

JMI: What is your approach on shoot days? Do you walk into a shoot with a particular focus, or are you more "go-with-the-flow"?

LC: At the risk of sounding contradictory, I prefer a combination of the two...I go to every single shoot I accept with a focused mission and never have any doubt that my client will be more than pleased with the final result. That sounds like a given, but it's not at all. I have many talented artist and photographer friends and colleagues who are still nervous about pleasing the client on most of their shoots...that used to be the case with me, but not any more, and it's a huge piece of the puzzle for me, because pleasing the client should be the priority on any shoot, so when that becomes a given, I can...focus on how to take every shoot to the next level by going with the flow. 

JMI: How would you describe your photographic style?

LC: I always strive for elegance first. Whimsical works it's way into most of my work when appropriate, and it's almost always appropriate. So, it in the following order: elegant, whimsical, unexpected, and usually, just slightly, intentionally overexposed.

JMI: What inspires your photography most?

LC: I find that my most significant strength in our industry is my non-stop, absolutely constant, obsessive quest for inspiration. I literally plan my entire existence around being inspired by everything in my path. I have some standard go-tos for inspiration...MoMA, P.S.1, the paintings of John Currin, anything by Matthew Barney or Richard Serra, the streets of NYC, the food at Aureole, ABC Kitchen, Eataly, Balthazar, Soto...in my daily routine, everything from the studios I choose to the crew I prefer to work with, coffee shops, bars, vacation destinations, etc. are all chosen sources of inspiration. More specifically, morning sunlight streaming into my studio with Rene Fleming or ACDC blasting, and my preferred team excited about creating together is the perfect equation for inspiration.

JMI: Your specialties include fashion, kid's fashion, portraiture, and celebrity portraiture. Do you prefer one to the others?

LC: Honestly, I don't. I just want to be behind the camera shooting all the time. With that said though, I do find that the specific categories you referenced are each essential to my personal flow. Example..I love shooting fashion, but fashion shoots can often become very serious. We all know that the fashion world can take itself too seriously on occasion. For me, the counter balance to that is shooting kids, and really enjoying just letting them be exactly who they are.

JMI: Lately, you've been working closely with acclaimed fashion frontrunner Mark McNairy. Tell us a little more about that collaboration.

LC: I have been working with Mark (...love his "McNasty" nickname, by the way) for years now, and we've developed a mutual respect for each other's style and work ethic...I think it helps that we are both enjoying a semi-new element of recognition for years of hard work...but essentially my collaborative work with Mark is simple: when shooting together we both push each other, and both demand and will not settle for anything less than absolute perfection.

JMI: What can we expect from Lee Clower in the next few months? Is there anything new and exciting on the horizon that we should be keeping an eye out for?

LC: That's an amusing and curiously frustrating question for me in that, because I shoot so often for The New York Times, I can be so excited about a particular shoot or series of shoots, but not allowed to talk about it because of the covertness necessary for working with "paper of record." I will say that I do have some significant, yet-to-be-released shoots in my proverbial arsenal...Snooki for XOJane's new beauty site, XOVain, just came out, so, there's that...(laughs).

JMI: Alright, million-dollar question: If you could give your former, just-starting-out-in-the-business self one piece of advice, what would it be?

LC: You will get exactly what you expect out of your work and this industry, so look as deep as necessary to find the understanding that you must expect and deserve the absolute best....it helps to know early on that you, alone, as the photographer have to take full responsibility for every single shoot - mistakes and failures, especially.

THE NEW YEAR IS HERE!

With 2013 now officially upon us, what better way to celebrate than with new shots from a JMI photographer?! Check out these breathtaking bridal images from LEE CLOWER below! To stay up-to-date on Lee's work and see what else 2013 has in store for the photographer, be sure to visit the JMI site!

Lee Clower does it again!

In Sunday's issue of the New York Times, the photographer captures the very beautiful Padma Lakshmi of Bravo's "Top Chef" for the newspaper's Fashion & Style section. Unable to pick up a copy for yourself? Not to worry! Find images from the article and shoot below, including a behind-the-scenes image of Lee and Padma reviewing the photographs together; and don't forget to check out the New York Times site for the full article!

It's Monday again, so we thought we needed something fun and adorable to talk about this afternoon!  Lee Clower shot the new fall/ winter campagin for Oeuf, NYC.  He went around the streets of NYC and captured some of the latest accessories from the brand.  Perfect for those last minute Halloween ideas!

We also saw that it was blogged about on Smudgetikka,  a kids fashion blog by Linda McLean, a professional in children's fashion!

 Hope you enjoy and Happy Monday!

Picked up an issue of GQ lately? If you have, chances are you have seen Mark McNairy's (or "McNasty" as many of his fans and friends call him) clothes scattered across the pages of the men's fashion bible. Or what about Lucky Magazine? (see below) McNairy, who used to be known for his distinctive men's clothing now is doing Women's apparel too!

Well, we have some exciting news. JMI's Lee Clower has been working with Mark McNairy on his lookbooks and recently shot his NYFW show! But that's not all....

We are excited to announce that coming soon we will launch a fresh portfolio of Lee's work dedicated to the McNairy work....for now...here are some of our favorites! Also, take a look here to see what Lucky Magazine thinks of the new Lookbook and McNasty's style.

Stay tuned for more of Lee's work for Mark McNairy and be on the lookout for the new portfolio!

Happy Friday!

Lee Clower has done it again: his magical camera has transformed the overly-made-up former Real Housewife of New York, Jill Zarin, into a shockingly fresh faced young woman who simply cannot be 48 years old! Or maybe Jill Zarin is just naturally that beautiful and has been hiding it from Bravo devotees for years...?! Either way, we are so delighted by Lee's latest Make-Under feature for XO Jane.

The beauty editors at XO Jane really have a knack for revealing unexpected beauties (see Sammi Sweetheart and Wendy Williams sans their usual "face") and we think Lee is the perfect guy to take pretty portraits--and create photographic evidence--of these metamorphoses! I wonder who XO Jane will reveal next...

Check out the Style Spy page in the September 2012 issue of Town & Country below. Lee Clower shot Lorry Newhouse in her apartment in New York City for this one! Lorry looks absolutely stunning and don't you just love her dog?

Well, not him...but his image! Congratulations Lee Clower for the placement of his awesome portrait of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders on the front page of NYtimes.com! Lee shoots regularly for The New York Times Style and Arts sections but this is the first time an image of his has been on the front page!

An especially cool subject, Lee was really excited to shoot Greenfield-Sanders. The feature story in the Thursday Style section entitled "When Beauty Fades" reviews Greenfield-Sanders' latest documentary "About Face" which will debut on HBO on Monday night. Be sure to tune in! Congrats again Lee!