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Photographers of Design

>>> Jack Kotz, Sante Fe, New Mexico

Jack Kotz' photography has taken him around the country and has landed him numerous clients, ranging from resorts and builders to restaurants and architects. His work has been published in numerous books, as well as publications such as Su Casa, Smithsonian, Architectural Digest and Time magazines. Even with all these photographic successes, the project closest to his heart is a 20-year labor of love.

Ms. Booth's Garden, published as a book in 2002 by the Mississippi Museum of Art, is a series of spare, elegant documentary images of the life and community of an elderly Mississippi lady as she goes about her daily routines in her home, garden and rural town. "The 'Ms. Booth' is my grandmother," explains Kotz. "Every time I went down to visit her for the past 20 years, I took pictures of her and her surroundings. After a few years, I realized I had a book—and an exhibit—about humans and their landscapes."

Kotz honed his thoughtful approach to photography as he majored in the subject, as well as art history, at Hiram College in Ohio. "I started out as a music major," explains the Washington, D.C. native. "I migrated to art after I realized I didn't quite fit into the music program."

Upon graduating in 1983, Kotz interned at the Smithsonian's art archives back in Washington, cataloguing National Endowment for the Arts grant–sponsored photography. "It was a wonderful experience," he recalls. "I got to look at original prints by photographers such as Bruce Davidson and other great masters. But I also realized I didn't want to catalogue someone else's work—I wanted to make my own pictures."

A contemporary home in Taos, New Mexico.

Kotz apprenticed with several D.C.-area commercial photographers to learn the nuts and bolts of the business, working for the likes of Ken Garrett, a National Geographic photographer, and Walter Smalling, an architectural photographer. He also met Roger Kennedy, then director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and an architectural historian. Collaborating with Kennedy, Kotz photographed several architectural history books, including Greek Revival America (1989, Stewart, Tabori & Chang) and Rediscovering America (1990, Houghton Mifflin). The latter book brought him to the Southwest to photograph Anasazi sites, and he became smitten with Santa Fe.

"A work project brought me here to Santa Fe," Kotz says. "I fell in love with the light. I'd lived in Washington for 30 years and I'd had it. In 1991, I decided to follow my heart."

Though he'd had numerous books published and his photographic experience included magazine, newspaper and public relations work, establishing himself in Santa Fe wasn't easy, Kotz admits. "I pounded the pavement and did marketing until I picked up clients like interior designers, builders, hotels and magazines," he says. "I've done architectural work, portraits, public relations photography and even food.

"The work is different here, " he continues. "For example, shooting houses here is very different from doing it back East. You can't just go in and do a classical image of an interior. Houses here are more intimate. You have to read the spaces."

A home by Conger Fuller Architects.

Kotz uses an assistant for most of his architectural work and a crew, if necessary, for larger shoots, such as hospitality jobs. He uses digital technology for the most part, but some shots, he says, still seem to call for a view camera and film.

Despite his commercial successes, Kotz is still very much involved in fine art work, as exemplified by the Ms. Booth project. His beautifully quiet landscapes, shot with a panorama camera, have been shown in galleries and museums nationwide; in Santa Fe, he's represented by the Gerald Peters Gallery. Another series of documentary images, called "Dust Crackers," will soon find their way into children's books. They're black-and-white photographs of his son, then ages three to five, as he explores the world.

"My work is about 50 percent commercial, 50 percent fine art," Kotz notes. "For a while there, when I was finishing up the 'Ms. Booth' project, it was all fine art. I stopped answering the phone for a year to do the project because my grandmother was getting up there in years, and I felt the pressure of time."

Ms. Booth passed on at the ripe old age of 96. She did, however, live long enough to see the book published, and she approved of her grandson's artwork.

Jack Kotz Photography, Santa Fe, NM; (505) 984-0673 or www.jackkotz.com.

A private home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.