“…there’s so much more that goes into being a successful fashion photographer than the quality and originality of the photos. In order to have a long successful career you have to learn to collaborate with a great team…”

- Jed Root, naiveboy.com (Feb. 4, 2010)

Photo: Chris Melton

ADAPTATION

“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” a quote from a creative writing instructor Mr. Robert McKee, widely known for his popular “Story Seminar” all over the world. In the 4-time Academy Award-nominated movie “Adaptation” written by Charlie Kaufman, the Emmy Award-winning actor Brian Cox (Bourne Supremacy, 2004) portrayed Robert McKee’s character (who was McKee’s personal choice for the role). The film follows a desperate-for-a-draft screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage) attended McKee’s course. More than 2 years ago, like Charlie Kaufman’s character and countless active Hollywood screenwriters today, I have sat on that very same chair. Sitting in the middle of the Director’s Guild Auditorium, I was surrounded by storytellers coming from different parts of the world, different walks of life, some are today’s most celebrated writers, some are aspiring writers, some are working on their latest novel or screenplays, some have the look of cynicism, some came back for the second or third time just to refresh their memories and some just looks like deers caught in the headlights.

Robert McKee and I at one of his Story Seminar.

DIABLO CODY

All these years I know that photography has always been my first love and I’ve flirted with writing for years, like a married man having an affair with a more mature, more intellectually engaging woman. In my humble opinion, although fashion photography gives me an opportunity to tell stories through my images, most of the time I felt its skin-deep, its like a very perky young wife I have so much fun with but my conversations are limited to Louis Vuitton Bags and Paris Hilton. I want more.

I remember living in LA for a year, surrounded by actors and slashes, — actor”/”bartender”/”writers, dancer/actress/writer, taxi driver/singer/writer, bouncer/beatboxer/actor/writer, waiter/model/actor/writer, and the list of “slashes”goes on, one thing they have in common, they all think they got what it takes to be the next overnight A-list celebrity since Diablo Cody, a stripper/screenwriter/writer/blogger, an Academy Award Winner for Best Original Screenplay for her script of the 2007 4-time Academy Award-nominated movie “Juno.” Like more than half of the population of California, I felt like I have a story to tell, travelling all over the world and back, I’ve met so many “slashes” but not a single “photographer/writer” (if your out there, please email me at info@navostudios.com), in my experience, photographer/writer’s are a very, very rare kind of species, people who can tell stories through images and words. And I was empowered more by the challenge, I had the same tingly sensation the first time I saw my work in magazine covers, writing makes me see the world like a kid in a candy shop, I’m surrounded by overwhelming stories that a lot of people haven’t heard of, and I have that front seat in a great big stage called “life.”

The “Fashion Stratosphere” can be narrowed down to these major professions, the Designers, the Photographers, the Clients, the Models, the Celebrities, the Creatives, the Model Agents/Bookers, the Talent Agents, Photography Agents, the Businessmen/Investors, the Interns/ Assistants, the Editors/Writers, the Casting Directors, the PR Managers, the Bloggers and the Digital Retouchers. The most competitive business in the face of the earth have these people as it’s “major” players, they are the people behind the machine, collectively has inspired the most recent films such as Bruno (2009), Zoolander (2001) and Devil Wears Prada (2006). An industry that has no rules, no boundaries, double standards, mind-games, people who create their own personal rules, and some who break those rules, however you perceive it. I just found myself surrounded by a bunch of colorful, artistic, one-track mind, cutthroat characters, as a photographer I was intimidated, as a writer I was overwhelmed and excited, the world is my oyster, I asked myself in several occasions “Why I haven’t seen these wild bunch in TV or Movies?” I felt like a secret agent researching for a great story to tell, and I’m elated when I found one.

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC

In the modern zeitgeist, you can divide the fashion industry into 2 categories, “the familiar careers” and “the new careers”, if you ask an 8-year-old kid what is a photographer? or a model? or a writer? or a fashion designer? Somehow they will have a strong grasp of the idea of what these people do, ask them again what is a digital retoucher? or a pr manager? or a fashion blogger? or a male-model booker? unless they have been coached, you might get some pretty interesting answers that will make you smile or laugh. It’s a very young industry and very few references in the media for the next generation to fully understand. Only last year that two notable films about bloggers have been written and produced, one is “Julie and Julia”, directed by Nora Ephron, starring Meryl Streep in a  story of Julia Child and her start in the cooking profession, intertwined with blogger/author Julie Powell’s life and struggles (played by Amy Adams) and the documentary “We Live in Public”, stars Josh Harris exposing the problems of privacy in the internet age, directed by Ondi Timoner.

Dangerously Naive is my journey with you as my readers, my struggles toward: a good story, well told (like what Mr. McKee always say on his seminars). My mission, to tell you stories that you will never read, or will rarely read in any magazines and books about the fashion industry, stories that most “fashion magazines” tip-toes around. Today is a world-exclusive story told through my one-on-one interview with a legend and an artist in his own right, a man with a career that spanned for 2 long successful decades yet his life you haven’t seen in any hollywood films,  a great eye for discovering and nurturing new creative voices in the world of fashion, a pioneer of his profession but stays out of the limelight, the man behind the legendary Make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin, the agent of some of most iconic photographers in the industry today such as Michael Thompson, Diego Uchitel and Bettina Rheims, popular photo-blogger Scott Schuman “The Sartorialist”,  brilliant Make-up artist Dick Page, world-renowned Stylists Joe Zee and Elissa Santisi,  leading Hair stylist Serge Normant, highly regarded Manicurist Sheril Bailey, most sought after Props/Set Design Tom Bell, internationally acclaimed Illustrators Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Hiroshi Tanabe. A peek into the life of a Photography/Creative Agency Owner, Mr. Jed Root.

The images of iconic photographer, Michael Thompson represented by Jed Root Agency.

2 DECADES OF JED ROOT

LOPE NAVO: Thank you for dropping by Naiveboy.com Jed, your one of the busiest people in the industry and its an honor to have you for an interview. I’ve written an article a month ago titled “THE TEN: GREATEST FILMS ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHERS” and discovered there are more than 31 films that has been written and produced revolving the lives of photographers, some are box-office hits, some are oscar winners, some are hollywood classics and some are my all time favorite movies, to start the interview, do you have any favorite film about a photographer(s)?

JED ROOT: Thank you!  It’s a pleasure Lope! As far as a fictional Hollywood film specifically about a photographer goes, it would have to be 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film “Blow up”.

NAVO: What’s your top 3 favorite films? and why?
ROOT: Pasqualino Settebellezze/ Seven Beauties (1975) by Lina Wert Müller, Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) by Hayao Miyazaki, and The Evil Dead (1981) by Sam Raimi.  I guess they’re all examples of stories where the characters develop in unexpected ways and you have no idea where the storyline is going; no idea of what’s going to happen next.  I suppose it can be fun and somehow comforting to watch a predictable movie but you still can’t wait to see it happen.  But that’s never really appealed to me so much.  Stories where the characters evolve and develop have generally been my favorites.  HBO’s Six Feet Under (2001) would be another great example.

NAVO: Six Feet Under is one of the greatest TV series ever written in my book, and I’ve seen the entire five seasons and 63 episodes, I miss the Fisher family and every episodes’ view on human sexuality and human mortality. But going back to the movies, have you ever seen the 1996′ 5-time Academy Award-nominated film Jerry Maguire? A story about a sports agent (played by Tom Cruise) has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it and ultimately changing his life at the end, have you ever had one of those moral epiphany in your life or this things are just  a clever work of a screenwriter?
ROOT: Believe it or not I’ve never seen “Jerry Maguire”.  But I’d have to say no, I don’t think I’ve ever had any sort of moral epiphany.  I do think that the idea of “moral epiphanies” is just the clever work of screenwriters and biblical writers.  One’s morals and ethics are something that evolves slowly over the course of one’s life as a result of experiences, influences and ever-changing beliefs.

NAVO: Being the premier agency for leading fashion photographers, stylists, and hair and makeup artists within the fashion industry for more than 3 decades, is truly inspiring for people all over the world, especially it is one of the most competitive if not the most in all the industries that ever existed. What inspires you?
ROOT: Thanks Lope!  But it’s only been 2 decades; no need to make me older than I am.  Although when I started, I never thought I’d ever be saying ONLY 2 decades.
I suppose what inspires me most is the way this business constantly changes and evolves.  Fashion can be defined as “A current (constantly changing) trend, favored for frivolous rather than practical, logical, or intellectual reasons”.  I enjoy being involved in the creation of something that’s got a pretty limited life to it, although fashion is just a part of what I do.  The challenge of dealing with the constant change in this business keeps me pretty inspired.

The images of photographer, Diego Uchitel represented by Jed Root Agency.

30 SECONDS OR LESS

NAVO: What is your favorite part of your job?
ROOT: Dealing with people. I enjoy (and think I have a pretty good talent for) identifying other people’s talent, nurturing it, pushing them in the right direction, and teaming them up with other talented people whom I think they’ll be able to collaborate with very successfully.  I’ve learned to apply this not only to the people who I represent, but also to my employees.  I enjoy coming up with strategies for my talent’s careers, as well as for my own company.  Just running such a diverse company is very exciting.  Finding ways to pull together all the different departments (Photographers, Hair Stylists, Makeup Artists, Colorists, Prop Stylists, Fashion Stylists, Manicurists, Illustrators, Syndication) and all of our different geographic locations (New York, London, Paris, Tokyo), and inspire good communication, collaboration and synergy between them all is challenging but VERY satisfying.

NAVO: How did you become an agent Jed? At what point did you know you want this career?
ROOT: It certainly wasn’t something I knew I wanted to do growing up. If you’re not involved in this business it’s pretty unlikely that you’d even know this sort of job exists.  I moved to New York in 1981 with my then-boyfriend Kevyn Aucoin because he wanted to be a makeup artist.  But I had no idea at all of what I wanted to do.  So I helped him and slowly got involved in the business.  I somehow managed to get booked as a hairstylist on several fashion shows (Carolina Herrera, Revillion Furs and a few others), even though I had never done hair in my life!  Luckily all the shows called for just a tight chignon (I went through gallons of hair gel!).  But it was a great experience working with all the amazing runway girls of that time like Pat Cleveland, Apollonia, Alva Chin, etc.  I also helped Kevyn with the makeup on a lot of shows and pretty much became an expert at applying false eyelashes on all the girls in 30 seconds or less each.

As Kevyn actually started to work more, I acted as his agent and he started working with Steven Meisel (I think fashion stories for Mademoiselle Magazine is where they started working together).  But I really had very little knowledge of how this business worked and no real experience.  So when he got the offer to join a real agency (Art + Commerce), I was perfectly happy for him to go with them.  For a while I worked odd freelance jobs in the business (assistant to stylist Barbara Dente for a bit) and then managed to land a job at one of the best model agencies in New York at that time, Name Models.  This was in 1986 and I still had very little real experience.  But the owner of the agency, Louise Despointes and all the other agents (Sara Foley, Susan Quillin, Laura McKenna) were amazingly supportive and I learned a lot from them.  But after 3 years I realized that while I loved the business, I didn’t really like representing models. Also, at that time, Kevyn had become quite dissatisfied with his agent (he was no longer with Art + Commerce at that point, he had move to a smaller agency that no longer exists).  So I decided to set out on my own and open my own agency for hairstylists, makeup artists, photographers.  In January of 1989 I opened my company in my 5th floor walk-up East Village apartment.  Kevyn, of course, was the first on my roster; Sheril Bailey and Michael Thompson followed within a month and they’re both still with the agency.

NAVO: What’s the difference between being a model agent/booker and a photography agent?
ROOT: There are of course many similarities.  I guess the main difference is the nature of the relationship between the agent and the model or photographer.  With models you’re generally representing someone much younger than you. With photographers, they tend to be at least somewhat in the same age range as their agent. There are a lot of 18-20 year old models, but very few photographers under 30.  Also, photographers work can evolve and change dramatically over the course of their careers.  I think the models that have super-long careers are the ones that have changed very little.

THE TRAVEL AGENT

NAVO: What does your parents/ love ones think about your craft and your profession?
ROOT: My family doesn’t really have any idea.  Unless you’re involved in this business it’s pretty hard to grasp what it’s about and what we do.  Until the day she died, my grandmother was convinced that I was a travel agent, because she knew I traveled a lot and called myself an agent.  Whenever I have to check-off  “profession” on one of those surveys, I can never figure out the right box to use. But my family fully grasps that I’m successful and happy, so that’s enough.

NAVO: Where were you born and where did you grow up?

ROOT: I was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, but my parents moved to Dearborn Michigan when I was quite young.  Then when I was about 10, we moved to New Orléans.  New Orléans in the 70’s was really something!  We moved again and I went to high school in Springville, Alabama (a small town not far from Birmingham; hated it there!).  After graduation (like just a week after graduation), I went back to Louisiana and attended LSU.  But I was not too big on school, so I actually attended very few classes and only stayed enrolled for about a year and a half.  Then moved to New York where I’ve been ever since.

NAVO: Whats the most iconic images that you remember while growing up?
ROOT: As a kid, I don’t remember any photo in particular, but in general it would definitely be all of those fantastic photo stories in National Geographic.  It was amazing how the photography could be so stunning and so informative at the same time.  Fashion-wise, it would have to have been Avedon’s Versace ads; models like Jerry Hall, Atilla, etc., lounging on giant pillows, with hair by Suga.  Especially the way they were printed in the OLD W Magazine, back when it was a color broadsheet!  I actually used to buy it specifically for the ads!

NAVO: I completely remember those Versace campaigns with giant pillows and I also collected them! Photographer Richard Avedon is truly a fashion visionary, who would you consider a visionary in the photography history?

ROOT: So many!  Brassai, Man Ray, Gordon Parks, Steiglitz, Steichen, Penn, Avedon, and some lesser known ones like Clarence John Laughlin and Chris von Wagenheim.

NAVO: What’s your favorite piece of artwork you own?

ROOT: That’s difficult! I have a huge photography collection, so it would not only be difficult to choose something from that, but it would probably piss-off a bunch of other photographers.  I have a bit of Southeast Asian art, a few 16th, 17th, and 18th century paintings and sculptures, and a long list of other miscellaneous pieces.  I guess the most dramatic piece is a 19th century marble sculpture by Fanny Marc that I bought in Paris.

The images of legendary photographer, Bettina Rheims represented by Jed Root Agency.

SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION

NAVO: Whos your favorite Hollywood Icon?

ROOT: Maybe Lauren Bacall.  She doesn’t seem to give a shit what anybody else thinks of her. That’s pretty refreshing since we seem to live in a world of self-obsessed celebrities, demi-celebrities and semi-celebrities (and plenty of non-celebrities) all working frantically to manipulate their image.

NAVO: What’s your top 3 favorite albums/records of all time?

ROOT: Amtrak Blues (Alberta Hunter), Use Your Illusion (Guns N’ Roses), Can’t Stand the Resillos (The Rezillos)

NAVO: Whats the last book you’ve read lately and what is it about?
ROOT: Six Pixels of Separation, by Mitch Joel.  It’s about online social networking and how everyone is now The Media.  But you have a very active blog, so you already know that.  I’ve also been reading The Tale of Genji on and off for about 4 years now.  Since it’s over 1,000 year old, 54 chapters, well over 1,000 pages long, and traditional Japanese literature never uses proper nouns, it can be pretty difficult to follow in parts.  But it’s a great story!

NAVO: What do you think of the disappearance of a lot of magazines (367 magazines closed in 2009) for the past years?
ROOT: It was bound to happen sooner or later even without the internet. There were too many “independent” magazines out there.  Even if some of them were doing very interesting work, it was a bit of a false economy.  Many of them simply were of little or no interest to the public.  People worked for these publications for free and actually financed the content, and then the main people purchasing those publications were those contributors plus a few of their friends and business associates.  With all the blogging and social networking tools that are now available (for free!), it will be very difficult for many of the rest to survive.  People are saying that magazines are going to be gone in a few years.  I don’t believe that, although I’m pretty sure that there will be very few magazines printed on PAPER a few years from now.  The publications that have a unique voice and are able to understand and utilize the new way in which “media” is now defined will thrive and they’ll always need creative contributors.

NAVO: It all boils down to survival of the fittest, do you remember the first photos you have taken and with what camera Jed?

ROOT: I don’t remember any photos in particular being first.  But it was with my father’s old Yashica.  It was a great camera.  I still have it.  I should probably see if I can get it restored before they stop making film.

Jed Root's mansion in Upstate, New York and one of his art sculptures.

BREAK WINTER IN HALF

NAVO: What’s an ideal regular vacation for a Jed Root? What activities does it include?
ROOT: I have a big, beautiful old house in upstate New York. I spend almost every weekend there and as much time as possible over the summer.  I do a lot of gardening and swimming.  I love to entertain friends there.  I do a lot of cooking and have built-up a pretty fantastic wine cellar. But I take one “traveling” vacation per year.  Usually in January I try to go someplace warm for about 10 days.  It really helps to “break the winter in half”!  This year I went to Costa Rica.  My main activities there were swimming with sea turtles and lying on the beach drinking tequila and smoking cigars.  But my winter vacation is always someplace different: Tahiti, Australia, Thailand…

NAVO: I’m not surprised you love travelling, thats why you always have a nice tan. What’s your top 3 cities in the world Jed and why?
ROOT: I only get to pick 3???? Well New York is my chosen home, so that has to be at the top of the list!  I love Paris, although it took me many years to start loving it.  I actually hated it for about the first 6 years after I stared going there regularly. I’ve probably had more fun in London than anywhere else.  Tokyo is a truly amazing, confusing, contradictory and inspiring place, I wish I was able to get over there more often.  That’s 4 and I could go on:  Rome, Sydney, Kyoto…

CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP

NAVO: There are thousands of new photographers each year and hundreds actually make it to the magazines and ad campaigns, are you following any of the new generation of photographer’s work? Anyone that stands out for you?

ROOT: Yes!  Lots of them!  But there’s so much more that goes into being a successful fashion photographer than the quality and originality of the photos.  In order to have a long successful career you have to learn to collaborate with a great team. Fashion Photography is more of a collaborative effort than any other type of photography. While the photographer may be the “captain of the ship” on a shoot, even the greatest captain can only do so much if he’s/she’s chosen the wrong crew or doesn’t know how to properly direct them and collaborate with them.  Also, fashion photography is primarily “Assignment Photography”.  The photographer is given a brief with certain objectives to achieve, be it for a magazine or an ad.  Someone else tells you what to do and you’re expected to give them back something that’s not only exactly what they asked for, but something that’s surprising and better than they could have envisioned it themselves.  It takes a long time to develop those sorts of skills and to establish the kind of relationships necessary.  Generally, I’ve seen that most of the photographers that skyrocket to the top overnight also tend to disappear pretty quickly as well.  It’s better to have a chance to make all your mistakes when not too many people are looking!

NAVO: What can you advise the young men and women all over the world who wants to make a living doing what you do?
ROOT: If you’re going to be an agent, you first have to have a love for what you’re representing (photography, sports, acting, illustration, etc.). Secondly you must have the talent and skill sets necessary for the job (dealing with people and their insecurities, a collaborative nature, confidence, social networking skills, being able to develop creative strategies, maintaining business relationships).  If you have those 2, then you need to know as much as possible about the business that you’re going to “agent” in by working within your chosen field and related fields, and being absolutely diligent about learning everything about the history, present, and future of that field.

NAVO: Besides Jerry Maguire, a sport’s agent, do you think another movie about agents should be produced so little kids will grow up wanting to be an agent someday, like how they look at photographers, astronauts, and doctors?
ROOT: No.  This isn’t exactly a “growth industry” at the moment. If we’re going to make films to inspire little kids to choose a career, there are more important ones than being an agent.  Plus I can’t imagine how somebody could make an interesting film about the life of a photography agent.  But if they ever do, I’ll certainly buy a ticket to see it!

http://www.jedroot.com/

http://blog.jedroot.com/jri/

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NEW YORK
Jed Root, Inc.
61A Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
USA
tel: 212-226-6600
fax: 212-274-0258

PARIS
Jed Root Europe
10, rue du Mont Thabor
75001 Paris
FRANCE
tel: 33 1 4454-3080
fax: 33 1 4454-9392

LONDON
Jed Root Limited
28 Mortimer Street
London W1W 7RD
tel: 44 (0)207 151 1000
fax: 44 (0)207 580 5598

TOKYO
Jed Root Japan
c/o Chisato Kohno Mgmt.
tel: 81 3 5447-5770
fax: 81 3 5447-5870

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Related Entry: http://naiveboy.com/2009/11/06/armed-with-saliva-by-navo/

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©2009 Dangerously Naive

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