CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

Street Musician, Philadelphia, 1994

……Every time I think about the life and work of Harvey Finkle, he reminds me of the good fortune he has had in his life. A beautiful life partner, close knit family and a passion for something that each day brings him great joy. That passion, to our benefit are his photographs. Following a long tradition of documentary photography, Harvey Finkle is the Mother Theresa of passionate photography. He began to excel at his lifes work in his early years, receiving a Social Work degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. From there, his education lead him to picture making which helped him define his social causes.

On Thursday, October 15th, 2009 The Constitution Center of Philadelphia will recognize his legacy. A press release has just arrived at the studio from Bread & Roses Community Fund of Philadelphia. Tickets are available at the door. You don’t want to miss this event!

Tent City, Philadelphia 1995

Tribute

The Bread & Roses Community Fund will be honoring social documentarian, Harvey Finkle, at its annual event on 10-15-09 at the National Constitution Center. Harvey is a still photographer, whose interests are social, political and cultural. His career has centered on photographing marginalized and disenfranchised people, including low income and homeless families, refugees and immigrants, the disabled and the Deaf, as well as groups working for economic justice, peace and human rights. The tribute will exhibit 75 photos reflecting the groups and people that he has photographed. His work can be seen on his website, harveyfinkle.com

www.HarveyFinkle.com

A Run For Congress

……I must admit it was a little intimidating. When I walked in to Pat Meehan’s office it was quite large and overlooked Independence Square in Philadelphia. It’s not very often that one get’s to walk in to a room that represents so much political power. He served as the federal prosecutor for the city of Philadelphia and its eight surrounding counties from September 17th, 2001 to July 15th, 2009. An appointment by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. senate. No small measure of responsibility placed in his hands.

Mr. Meehan became notorious for his investigations of “pay to play” politics in Philadelphia. One of those investigations led to the conviction and sentencing of city treasurer Corey Kemp an acquaintance of Tony Ward Studio. It is widely believed that Mr. Kemp’s sentence was excessive. Ten years for having a deck put on the back of his house.

Meehan For Congress?

On September 14th, 2009, Pat Meehan announced a run for the U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th district. Pretty soon the voters will decide if that run is warranted…..

Armey Is At It Again

….During the mid 90’s, even though my love for fashion photography was growing, I was assigned to produce portraits for George magazine, the brainchild of John Kennedy Jr. John Jacques Naudet, an editor at large who was working for American Photo at the time was a fan of my work and introduced me to my editor at George. Jean Jacques is the father, whose son’s the Naudet twins, were the documentary film makers who captured on movie film the extraordinary events of September 11th, while they working on a film project about the New York City Fire Department.
One of my assignments for George was to travel to Washington to photograph our House Majority leader at the time, Dick Armey, for a profile the magazine was publishing about his service to our nation. I was told by my editor, knowing that I was in to fashion, to take note of Mr. Armey’s boot’s as he often wore traditional cowboy boot’s, even while wearing his mainstream Washington uniform, the traditional gray pin stripe suit, white Oxford collar and tie. So the first thing I asked Mr. Armey to do in preparation for our sitting was to hand over his boot’s for closer examination. They were memorable boot’s all right, custom made Tony Lama’s, with his name inscribed. I even took a still life of them on a white seamless. I thought he was pretty hip at first, but then I learned about his politics. During the sitting we took pause to await the verdict on the year long trial of OJ Simpson. There I was, in the office of one of the most powerful political leaders in America, staring at a television set to hear the jury’s verdict. I didn’t know how to play it, he didn’t say whether he thought OJ was guilty or not. Once the verdict was read he said that he would later call his wife in relief that OJ was found guilty. The only thing we had in common was the guilty verdict and even less now that I recently learned that Mr. Armey is the chairperson for Freedom Works organization. There was a big rally a few days ago on Capitol Hill. There he was on CNN, 15 years later, with out a political office stirring it up again for the GOP………

Stunning Look's And Legs, Great Coat

….Esther wore the coat well and the panties underneath even better. She has so much style and class it’s remarkable. No wonder she has done so well in fashion. On the set she was polite, lighthearted and ultra sophisticated…..sexy……

Man In The Mirror, Sascha Lilic

…..Tony and I met through Sascha Lilic, the man whose reflection is cast in the mirror in this picture. Sascha is a world renowned stylist and creative director who for many years worked alongside the legendary Helmut Newton on some of his most coveted assignments. Sascha and I collaborated on this shoot for Spoon magazine on location in Los Angeles……..

Tyson Beckford Super Model

….I first met Tyson Beckford at a Vibe magazine party in NYC, where this picture was taken. He was represented by Bethann Hardison and was quickly moving up the ranks in the modeling industry. Tyson regularly appeared in top tier men’s fashion magazines and eventually landed himself a super model contract with Ralph Lauren. He is currently co-hosting the reality series Make Me a Supermodel on the television channel Bravo with Niki Taylor……

…..Anna and I worked together several more times after our initial meeting in Amsterdam. This picture was taken at the Plaza Hotel in New York while she was studying abroad. This is the cover concept for my most recent book project.

….What is it about these Dutch women that I love……..?