More early work - my first and last cover

copyright TB, 2006

I moved to New York just over 6 years ago to start working as a photo assistant and occasionally got my own shooting jobs. This is the first and only (real) magazine cover I shot while I was seeking commercial work (I did 3 covers for The Blade NY but its more of a newspaper). I was very happy with the shot - it was the first time a job felt like it was my own. I had been working on a set of black and white portraits for about 2 years - I was psyched to try this style out in the real world. Not that it was any different but I was proud of my commitment to stick with one style.

Unfortunately, they didn't love it - I would go so far to say they hated it. To my amazement they still wanted to use it and asked me to send them a few cropped versions (at least they let me have creative control over the cropping). Above is the final along with the one I wanted to use. Looking at it today I think the cropped version looks great and the obvious choice for this publication. It turns him into a mystery - who is this enigmatic wine sommelier... I was wrong to hate this editor for the last 4 years. Sorry for the letters! You were right!

About two and half years ago I stopped assisting and shooting and stepped into a non-photo related job. I was getting tired and found myself starting to hate the photography world. This random job gave me the strength to focus on my art. Since that job, I've shot 90% of the projects that are on timothybriner.com and have had time to cultivate my Boonville project, as well as a few others. This job has also supported my growing fascination with knee surgery - In total, I have paid less then seven dollars for the twelve doctors visits, one ER visit, multiple x-rays and MRI's, as well as the two surgeries. Pretty amazing!

See more of my early B&W portraits here.