“Stewart Cohen is a photographer here in Dallas but of world renown and he’s come out with a new book that’s got portraits of folks,” says the hyper-happy Good Morning Texas reporter as he cheerfully plugs Cohen’s book as a great, last-second Father’s Day present. (Clip below.) “Portraits of folks.” I like that. I bet Cohen did, too.
I’ve interviewed Cohen a number of times and I am always refreshed by his utterly mellow, down-to-earth manner. A commercial photographer specializing in people, Cohen earns top dollar on big jobs for big clients. Before I first talked to Cohen I assumed he might be the rushed and frantic type. However, he invariably picks up the phone with a relaxed, friendly “What’s up, man?”, and he makes it clear that he’s genuinely interested in the answer.
Cohen’s book with “portraits of folks” is called Identity: A Photographic Meditation from the Inside Out (Dream Editions Press). It’s a labor-of-love, personal project that Cohen worked on for ten years, only seeing it come off the press earlier this year. I tell the complete story of Cohen’s project in “In Search of Identity,“ written for the latest issue of Rangefinder. I first discussed the topic with Cohen in 2007, and I think the long-term reporting paid off. Not only am I able to share with you Cohen’s perspectives after he has gone to press, but I refer back to Cohen’s earlier perspective — when he thought he ready to go to press, but when, it turns out, he was not even ready to stop photographing for the project.
"T. Boone Pickens" by Steward Cohen.
Throughout “In Search of Identity” I weave in a profile of Cohen, highlighting his career and trying to illuminate a bit of his identity. If you are serious about commercial portrait photography, I’m sure you will appreciate Cohen’s story, and how he remains dedicated to improving his craft after nearly three decades on the job.
I open the piece with a description of Cohen’s image of Erik “Lizardman” Sprague, and then share a quote from Sprague featured in Identity: “I generally find the claim of being unique to be rather trite since we are all by nature individuals and thus unique.”
I continue by saying:
“Sprague’s words lucidly challenge the Continue reading “Stewart Cohen: In Search of Identity”
