Jay Jorgensen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1964. He picked up his first camera at a very young age and was hooked. Growing up, he began shooting landscapes and pictures of friends. An early influence were the beautiful nudes and photographs of dancers by Kenn Duncan in "After Dark" magazine. "It was one of the few gay-related magazines that you could just buy on any newsstand," Jorgensen says, "and it was very important in shaping the way I looked at photography." Moving to Los Angeles in 1985, Jorgensen's work took a turn when a friend asked him to take some nudes. "It opened up a whole new way of expression for me, and I began asking friends to pose for me. Those early images allowed me a certain intimacy in the images because of my familiarity with the subjects.
"There was a great renaissance in black-and-white photography about that time. Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Helmut Newton were all publishing books," continues Jorgensen, "and the images were like none I had ever seen before. I realized the sky was the limit. Horst and George Platt Lynes are also two of my favorite photographers and I have learned a lot by looking at their mastery of shadows.
"Capturing the human body on film allows me to speak with a vocabulary that I just don't have with words," says Jorgensen. "When I'm photographing, I leave the color world and step into a fantasy world of black-and-white shadows. Form and light are the most important components of my images - but I also love telling stories of graceful dancers, romantic couples, artists struggling with their art or whatever ideas I want to explore at the time."

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