CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since I published my first two books on erotic photography with the charming little bookstore, La Musardine located at 122 rue du chemin-Vert, Paris. Friends in the states informed me about the renowned French publisher, and its hardcore counterpart Alixe Editions. At the time, the late 90’s, I had found an outlet for publishing my most challenging erotic work under the creative direction of Penthouse founder and publisher, Bob Guccione. Many of the pictures that were originally photographed for Penthouse, were later published in my first two volumes Ogasm and OrgasmXL, under the editorial supervision of La Musardine owner Claude Bard and his insightful assistant and Anne Hautecoeur.

My first visit to meet Claude and Anne was a short walk from my apartment in Menilmontant, through the beautiful Pere Lachaise cemetery, were many notibles were laid to rest. A short distance to the unique erotic bookstore, La Musardine is mixed in with a variety of apartments, business’s and delicious French pastry shops, that are located along the busy Parisian street, If you don’t pay careful attention as you got close to the address, you could easily walk past it, as I have on many occasions. Once you enter the shop, hundreds of books lining the walls of the quaint environment overwhelm you. Erotic titles that you would never imagine would ever be published could be found in La Musardine’s extensive library. It was an education in itself, just looking around at all the literary works and photography books published on the subjects of sex and erotica. I knew at once that I found the right publisher for my vision and erotic imagination……..

Tony Ward Interview

S.M. Where does your work start?

T.W. With a good cup of coffee at 7:00 AM with friends at a cafe near the studio. First, I stay current with the news by reading the paper front to back. We cajole about current events and after a while I head back to the studio to ponder who I will photograph or write about next for the daily blog which was launched in August of this year.

S.M. What most inspires you?

T.W. Well, over a 30 year career I’ve been fortunate enough to have been inspired by many things and or event’s in my life. Early in my career, I was inspired by the great documentary photographers that produced pictures for the big glossies. Life and Look are a couple that come to mind that included the photograph’s of legends, W. Eugene Smith and Gordon Parks. When I studied photography in college, especially during my two year enrollment in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I became more interested in commercial, particularly fashion photography and it’s impact on our visual culture. At that time, the late 70’s, I was inspired by the work of Avedon, Newton, Hiro and Bourdon. In the early 80’s, I found inspiration in corporate culture by being employed by one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Smithkline Corporation. After a four year stint at Smithkline, I opened a full service photography studio that produced imagery for many fortune 500 companies. The 90’s inspired me to explore the world of erotica, to travel and photograph women, preferably in the nude at various locations in Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, Paris, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and of course Philadelphia, my home. This decade is still being defined.

Interview

S.M. What do you like most about your work?

T.W. The freedom to express myself and most recently to put my thought’s in to words via the blogosphere.

S.M. What are the worst bits of your career so far?

T.W. The worst has been, at times when I was raising my family, I produced many pictures purely out of the motivation to make money, a means to an end. At that point in my career, although I was making a good living, the freedom that I had always sought in my work, particularly the subject matter was lost. I like many folk’s was ruled by the almighty dollar and was seduced by America’s capitalist culture. The best is when I work with a new subject, like a piece of raw clay….alway’s fascinated to see how I can mold it and to see what evolves from the encounter.

TW Interview

S.M. What are your plans for the future?

T.W. My immediate plans are a full time commitment to the daily blog. There are two new book projects ready to go to press and the development of a new fragrance.

S.M. How do you incorporate the variety of influences in your work?

T.W. The best thing I have found recently is the blog. It allows me to publish a variety of my interests and influences under one communications platform.

S.M. Where are you from, born, living?

T.W. When I am asked this question, which is fairly often, I refer to our current president Barack Obama. I also come from mixed parentage. My father’s root’s were African, although he was born in the south, Savannah, Georgia. He and his mother and younger brother, like many other people of color during that period of American history, migrated north for better opportunity. For a time, they lived in Harlem, then moved to Philadelphia where he met my mother Jean, a white woman of Italian descent. She was born and raised in South Philadelphia. They had three children. I was the last and have been living in Philly ever since. The city of brotherly love.

S.M. What’s your favorite thing right now?

T.W. Publishing the new books, the blog and as always pursuing the next subject!

TONY WARD INTERVIEW

Vibe Founder Quincy Jones

…..In 1993 music mogul Quincy Jones launched the magazine VIBE with great fanfare in New York City. Q realized the importance of Hip- Hop music in the American cultural landscape and created a magazine that soon after it’s initial launch, became it’s predominant voice. Quincy attracted an emoromously creative publication team that included, Diddo Ramm, George Pitts, Alan Light, Kevin Stewart and Mimi Valdez, all of whom your’s truly had the pleasure of working with during those early days. This core group of creative’s attracted legions of photographers from around the country who clamored to be published on the pages of the new avant garde publication.

In June of this year, VIBE ceased publishing, one of the fatalities of weak advertising sales, a declining readership and a recessionary economy. The closing stirred memories of a fun period of producing images for the esteemed publication.

Keith Murray

My first assignment was to photograph Keith Murray, a rapper widely considered to be one of the greatest MC’s of all time. Murray had just released his first album, The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World on Jive Records. I loved the title track and was thrilled that I was headed to New York to photograph the young rap prodigy.

Thandie Newton

Several more assignments came in to the studio during VIBE’s glory days. My favorite was this shoot with Thandie Newton, the English born bombshell that starred in numerous films including Jonathan Demme’s Beloved and the female lead Nyah Hall in the film Mission Impossible Two. There is no greater creative exhilaration than directing a movie star for a still shoot.

Vibe Fashion

Quincy has vowed recently to keep VIBE alive on the internet. The studio will be checking…..

IMAGES FOR VIBE

Guest Blogger Mikel Elam added; “I met Quincy Jones in 1989 in California. Quincy and Miles were good friends. Miles asked me to go to Quincy”s house in Bel Air to deliver a painting by Miles to him. Q purchased the painting directly from Miles for his home. I recall the painting was very large and we had some difficulty getting it into one of Mile’s cars, an SUV. Part of the painting stuck out of the back of the vehicle.

Quincy was very nice. I met him again in New York at Miles apartment and a third time in Montreux, Switzerland for the annual jazz festival in 1991. This was a special occasion because Miles played with the Gil Evans Jr. Orchestra. As you know, Gill Evans Sr. was a close friend of Miles and collaborator on many albums, among them “Sketches of Spain”, a masterpiece.”