Mirror to the Soul
The Biography of a Photographer
By Jeff Kearney


It was in Seattle during the early nineties that I received my formal photographic training in portraiture and editorial fashion by former Vogue, People Magazine, GQ and Cosmopolitan photographers, but my passion for the art goes much further back. As far back as I can remember actually. I think it could be easily said that I’ve always “seen” the world a little differently than most. Not better, just different. From sitting on my father’s lap at a very young age looking at the black and white pictures he’d taken to the moment I got my very first 35mm camera, and obviously, ever since. Photography has been my life.

Better yet, it has been my journey. Over time I’ve learned that it is in the split second interplay of light, subject, perspective, technique, quality, and chance that an image can become both artistic and able to define a moment, or in a word, timeless. Actually, pretty much all photographs can lay claim to the above mentioned criteria, however, it has also been said that if you give ten people the same camera, point them at the same subject, and have them take a picture – you will end up with ten different photographs. And in that lies the key to it all. How a person sees the world around them.

For me, it has always been as if I’ve looked at the world around me through the viewfinder of a camera. Observing and moving around the environment that I am in and searching for the perfect angle to capture the essential moment of the subject. Even when I don’t have a camera with me (yes, there are times) I still find myself photographing with my minds eye. The line between passion and obsession is very thin.

Moving on from Art School I found myself wanting to combine my zeal for photography with my love of music, and within a couple of years of climbing the ropes in the local music scene, photographing everything from live performances to making images for album artwork, I graduated to the big leagues. By the start of 1996 I began my almost decade long involvement in the music industry. Photographing bands and artists such as Metallica, B.B. King, The Rolling Stones, Sammy Hagar, as well as numerous others, in venues ranging from Red Rocks Amphitheater and The Blockbuster Pavilion to the Cabo Wabo Cantina, for companies like Universal Music Group, Elektra Records, and Clear Channel Communications.

As the new millennium has progressed into almost finishing its first decade, so to have I evolved. Developments in life such as meeting and marrying the woman of my dreams, enduring the untimely passing of both my mother and son, taking the opportunity for an educational sabbatical of apprenticeship in the ancient art form of tattooing, practicing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and reconnecting with the one true constant in my life, photography.

I now spend a majority of my professional time doing freelance photography for a variety of clientele including numerous magazine publications and corporate clients like Paisano Publications, Veda Salons, Derksen Lighting Company, and Art & Ink Publications, but always continue to leave bookings available for the opportunity to just photograph anything, no matter the job. I remember someone once asking me what my favorite type of photography was and I’ll never forget instantly replying; the type that involves a camera. Wasn’t trying to be funny or smart-alecky, it was just my immediate response to the question. As corny as it may sound, making images is my life. From my perspective, the what, why and where of the subject matter being captured comes in a distant second to the sound of the shutter clicking forward and encapsulating the past, maybe even capturing something timeless…..

-Trained by former Vogue & Cosmo Photographers
-Music Industry Photographer for over 10 years
-Contributing Photographer for over 10 magazines

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