One of the very cool things the camera allows is admission. Admission into places otherwise off limits for everyone else. I’ve been blessed to have been able to use the camera as a ticket for entrance into many great events and an introductory device to meet some very cool people.
Recently the camera served as a vehicle for me to meet Paul Katz. Paul is a world renown cellist, formerly of the Cleveland String Quartet and now an instructor at the New England Conservatory of Music. The assignment was to photograph Paul working with two of the quartets he mentors, the Parker and the Ariel, for an article being written for Strings Magazine. The magazine also asked for a few portraits for a potential cover and Paul invited me to his home to see if it would make for a good location for the portraits.
As soon as he sat down in his practice space and picked up his instrument, a 1669 Andrea Guarneri cello, I knew I was in the company of a very talented and accomplished musician. To watch him play was to watch another man breathe, the notes came that easily for him. The music was mind blowing.
I met up with Paul the following day at the campus of N.E.C. for the photo-shoot with the quartets and he gave me a quick tour of the facilities, highlighted by a look at Jordan Hall. Opened in 1903 as a gift of Eben D. Jordan, it is said to be one of the most acoustically perfect performance spaces in America. The stage has been host to Pablo Casals, Martha Graham, Arthur Fieldler, Béla Bartók, Aaron Copeland, Stan Getz and Benny Goodman. The true star of the Hall however is its immense pipe organ.
When Paul asked if I wanted to see if he could arrange a few hours to have the hall to ourselves to use as a setting for some pictures, I couldn’t get the “yes” out of my mouth quick enough. Fortunately for me, the students at the N.E.C. were on Spring Break and Paul was able to secure a few hours of the Hall’s use. Just standing on that stage was a thrill, let alone photographing a man who could put it to its greatest use.
