Skip Bolen

Artist Journal #2

Skip Bolen is a southern photographer who works in both black and white as well as color. His work mostly circles around musical life, culture and architecture in New Orleans, Los Angeles and New York City. He specializes in shooting stills for TV, film and music productions. Born in the south he began in New Orleans where he started out with a publishing career in designing and art directing. He then ventured to New York where he spent a lot of evenings in jazz clubs and beganphotographing jazz musicians. He also did this frequently when he visited home.

In private and public collections across the world, Skip Bolen’s images have been showed in many solo and group exhibitions including the ZOOM photography show in Los Angeles, the Robert Bruno Gallery in New Orleans and the Los Angeles Jazz Society's Annual Jazz Tribute & Concert. Hisphotographs have been a part of publications such as The NY Times, Rolling Stone, VH-1, Vogue and US Weekly.

Bolen has a very distinct technique. I have seen many photographers while photographing musicians, getting on stage like they’re a part of the concert or show. Bolen works without a flash and tries to be as unobtrusive as possible to the artist. He only wants to capture the true essence of the performance, without becoming a part of it. He adapts to his surroundings waiting to capture the perfect moment that showcases the definition of jazz. In the studio however, he uses completely different techniques. He becomes a master at lighting, shooting portraits in black and white and color.

What interests me most about Skip Bolen’s work is his ability to use his surroundings to his advantage. When he shoots musicians he uses the artificial fluorescent lights that are already present. He doesn’t add his flash or any additional lighting. I also love the way he doesn’t intrude on the artists while they are performing. He took his love of two different things, jazz music and photography and was able to find a way that work together for him.

Most of Bolen’s work from concerts that I’ve seen, the colors are very saturated, which works for the content and context of the photos. His landscape photographs that I’ve seen all seem to have a relatively calm or serene color basis. His TV still were the same as any TV stills, they show the basis of the movie or show. I was more interested in his landscape and music photography. I did take a look as some of his album covers all which seemed pretty interesting. They seemed to fit right in with each artist.

Skip Bolen Photography
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Posted By Toni Ratleff