Interview With
Marty Wolff
Fine Art Photography
https://martywolff.com
Best Sellers
"Unicorn Trio"
Panoramic
Panoramic
"Mala Sunset"
"Playmates"
"Morning Shadows"
A Bronx born baby boomer, Marty is now a resident of Hawaii living on the island of Maui. "It's the best place I've ever been to be from", he loves to say. Migrating slowly from New York, heading west, he spent a decade based out of Boulder, Colorado and then several decades in Los Angeles. Marty got his first camera at age 14 , a kodak box camera. He was immediately hooked on the idea of 'capturing a moment in time'.
Marty studied Photography and Design at New York City's New School for a bit, but the bulk of his photographic experience has been through the process of trial and error. "It's all about light, shapes & colors". During the Cultural Revolution of the late 60s and 70s, he performed in scores of concert extravaganzas. Marty applied his art to the creation of Psychedelic LightShows, then theatrical/concert lighting. Thru the late 70s and into the 80s, he traveled the world as a Rock 'n Roll concert producer and lighting/stage designer, primarily producing The Doobie Brothers live concerts, while being a promoter for many other concert artists as well.
Marty studied Photography and Design at New York City's New School for a bit, but the bulk of his photographic experience has been through the process of trial and error. "It's all about light, shapes & colors". During the Cultural Revolution of the late 60s and 70s, he performed in scores of concert extravaganzas. Marty applied his art to the creation of Psychedelic LightShows, then theatrical/concert lighting. Thru the late 70s and into the 80s, he traveled the world as a Rock 'n Roll concert producer and lighting/stage designer, primarily producing The Doobie Brothers live concerts, while being a promoter for many other concert artists as well.
"Whalewatch Magazine"
If Pigs Could Swim
"The Color Purple"
Martys' work with the lightshows lent heavily to his style of everchanging movement on stage. He captured some interesting rock 'n roll images as well, during that time. That period, and his experience and ideas about altered states of perception, lead directly to many of his current & recent photographic creations. Believing that "beyond the appearance of the initial image is the seed of a different truth", he searches for a more mysterious image. Light, shapes & colors.....
Occasionally, he often finds himself conscious that his soul is at one with the universe, moment by moment.
....These are the Moments of Creation.
Email: marty@marlincreative.net
Phone: 818.726.8508
Occasionally, he often finds himself conscious that his soul is at one with the universe, moment by moment.
....These are the Moments of Creation.
Email: marty@marlincreative.net
Phone: 818.726.8508
"Secret Beach"
Interview With Marty Wolff Fine Art Photography
TNYO: Hello Marty!! Your photography has completely entranced us here at The New York Optimist !! I have so many questions to ask you but will try to keep the interview concise and timely. My first and one of my favorite questions is where are you from ? and where does your family originate from?
Marty Wolff: Aloha I grew up in New York City, as it says in my bio I am a "Bronx born baby boomer". My parents grandparents immigrated from Eastern Europe, Latvia, Lithuania area as far as I know.
TNYO: Based on your bio it mentions that you have been taking photographs since the young age of 14. I wonder what your subject matter was then and do you have any memories that you might like to share about the younger years of your life and your art?
Marty Wolff: oh, approximately 14 years old, I was able to acquire a Kodak box camera which, being 60 years ago, was the simplest device available. You would look down straight into the top lens and then there was a mirror which was at a 45° angle and reflected the image coming in the front lens. It was literally a small box and took I believe 120 film which you wound by hand. It was super easy and quick for me to fall in love with the idea of being able to preserve moments in Time. Well, not conscious of it, the immediate realization of the relationship between light shapes and color began.
TNYO: Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in regards to the art of photography. The Digital age has done a lot for photographers although film is so sweet. Can you tell us about your artistic journey as a photographer and the equipment that you used years ago in comparison to the gear you are using today?
Marty Wolff: my artistic journey? As I just mentioned, I believe it began unconsciously, the first time I saw the results of pointing my first camera at some thing. Technologically it was all about film, and so the cost and time factors often were extreme, and sometimes blocked me from a more active pursuit of what I loved in my teenage years and into my early 20s I really liked black-and-white film and would shoot it often.
It was cheaper and easier for me to actually print so I stuck with it. At one point or perhaps two points, I had a small dark room and try to process film on my own and print it, but it was laborious , the next phase was in my early 20s starting to shoot slides rather than color film. Film had negatives and you really couldn't see what the color looked like until you printed it and, again, that was time consuming and expensive. I then began shooting almost exclusively, 35 mm slides, which, in addition to being able to look at color immediately, one could project them, and share with family and friends using what was a Kodak carousel projector back in those days this became very very useful when I began doing psychedelic light shows in Colorado and San Francisco with a bunch of crazies when I began my rock 'n' roll phase .
Again it's always been about light shapes and now color. My equipment progressed with simple cameras as I didn't have much money to invest. Kodak reflex cameras became better versions with better lenses and then eventually 35mm cameras.
I was able to acquire some really good Pentex 35mm cameras and lenses in Japan. My go to lens was a 135 mm fixed lens that was great for portraits, which is what I enjoyed most at that point later, I got into wide-angle lens is as well, but the big Leap was digital, when it appeared about 20 -25 years ago. DIGITAL allowed for me to take as many pictures as I wanted with zero cost, as well as the ability to look at them on a computer and process them in Photoshop and other programs, and the world of photography opened up to me from an affordable point of you. I got busy. I used Nikon cameras and lenses almost exclusively with every kind of lens imaginable. I quickly ramped up the quality of my underwater housings as I got more and more into marine photography and now spend a small fortune maintaining that equipment.
TNYO: Your career as a Rock Concert promoter is amazing!! I can't imagine what that experience was like for you. You have met some of my idols in music, and worked as a lighting designer and producer for concerts that I only wish I could have attended. Can you tell us about this part of your life and how working in several different mediums felt?
Marty Wolff: the portion of my life, in which I was a rock 'n' roll concert promoter/producer/set designer/lighting designer/weed smoking hippie was a very interesting time indeed!
I was in Boulder, Colorado, newly married and searching for a way to afford to pay for my life with a job. I connected with some interesting folks who were working for an advertising agency, and that introduced me to the concept of doing small club promotions with bands. Eventually, I got hired by the University of Colorado student group to do a concert series at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
These were the early 70s, actually very late 60s and the rock 'n' roll industry was just really forming. I got to be upfront and close to every major touring band of the late 60s and 70s, all the flower power groups based out of San Francisco, as well as the English wave of bands that was first coming to the United States. So, bands, like the Grateful Dead, The Who, the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac , beach boys, Elton John, Eagles, Crosby, stills, and Nash, Santana, etc. etc. etc. were baby brand new bands touring for the first time ever when I got to see them. A seminal time in the music industry, as well as a blessing to be able to see these bands on their "maiden voyages".
I worked for a major producer in Denver as head of security and stage management, and dealing with the bands needs other than those of the promoter. I became a promoter in my own right when I realize that was the way to make more money and toured the Midwest and southwest as a promoter. one of the bands opening to tea Rex in Shreveport Louisiana back in those days was the Doobie Brothers on their first tour having just released a song called listen to the music. I became friends with the manager and the band, and eventually they hired me to go on the road with them and help them organize their production with lighting staging and sound and also promoted them in at least a dozen Markets myself. I ended up touring with them for 12 years around the world and it was epic.
Photographically during this entire time, I was taking pictures with film and wish I had paid a lot more attention because the opportunities I had in front of me were way beyond what I ended up capturing. But it's always been about light shapes and color. My joy was when I got to do the lighting design and actually call the lighting moves during these concerts as most bands did not tour with the lighting Director and it became my job by default. One particular night stands out. The Who or touring playing small venues and performing TOMMY for the first time. At a place called Mammoth Gardens in Denver. The band asked me if I would do their lighting and I had the great honor of lighting The Who in Denver for their first performance of Tommy. An epic night indeed.
I could go on for days about what that. .....Of my life was like then, but there's no room here.!
TNYO: The idea of using these different techniques and mediums and bringing these elements to your current work makes complete sense to me when viewing your photography.Your work is vibrant, bursting with color light and life. Can you tell us about your process when approaching your subjects?
Marty Wolff: when people go 'wow this color is amazing. How do you do it?' My funny response is "a lot of it is due to drug use in the 60s and 70s." But the truth is, taking acid, and doing light shows at winter land, and the Fillmore Westin San Francisco, as well as all over Colorado, I did get to have some major impressions of color shapes and light, the literal fluid nature of it.
This translates into my still photography, which is the current invocation of my love and light in color and shapes, And I am a big fan of intense color, saturated, dark, vibrant, invoking color.
I like softer tones as well, but my heart is in dramatic emotional responses. A lot of people ask me questions about my techniques: is this photo shopped? Has this been adjusted? Is this one image? Is it saturated? And my only and best response is that I am trying to re-create the wow of what I was seeing, for the person looking at my work. That is my guide and I will do whatever that takes to get the image there a lot of the time, it's just adjusting the image back to what I believe I was seeing when I was taking a picture.
So yes, each image has anywhere from very minimal adjustments to dramatic adjustments, especially with underwater captures where the digital sensor does not see anything like true color, and has to have major adjustments to get back to you the reality of its original beauty.
TNYO: Sharks - Sharks - Sharks !!!!! I am fascinated by them, My favorite creature on the planet is The Great White Shark! You swim with these majestic creatures and photograph them. Please share what that experience was like, how you felt when diving with them, the excitement and the danger, it must have been exhilarating !!!
Marty Wolf: it is a great pleasure to be in the ocean and observe these lifeforms doing what they've been doing, in many cases for millions of years. Specifically, sharks are animals I hold in the highest regard.
They are generally perfect predators and have been doing what they've been doing literally for millions of years. it's an honor. A friend of mine, Jim Abernathey, out of West Palm Beach, Florida, likes to say that "sharks eat the dead, the dying, the diseased and the dumb. " sharks keep the reefs healthy, but you want to know the behavior of the animals are in the water with, perhaps don't dress up like a tuna sandwich when swimming with opportunistic sharks. Opportunistic, sharks, white, sharks, Mako, sharks, tiger, sharks, bull, sharks, and hammerhead, sharks see everything in the water as an opportunity to feed, so one must act accordingly. Don't be dumb!
I feel like I've completed my 'portraits of the great sharks' collection even though I don't have an adequate Mako shark, ....I'll live with that. TNYO: Oh man oh man my next question is even more exciting than underwater photography. Rock and Roll !! Please share your experiences photographing Rock Stars, I love it and I think everybody on the planet just loves rock stars. Outside of being a designer and promoter can you share maybe some intimate photo shoots with our idols? Marty Wolff: although it's not on my website at the moment, it may be shortly.
I was able to capture pictures of The Who, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, , Joan Baez, the Doobie Brothers, Crosby, stills Nash, and many others, as I wandered through the rock 'n' roll years with my 35mm film camera. Again, while I don't harbor regrets, I wish I had paid more attention and shot a lot more images since I was in such close proximity and companionship with many of these rock stars in their fledgling years. Leon Russell and his band once sat for me, I guess they thought I was a professional, PRESS, photographer, and I got to do a photo shoot of them backstage. The rest of it was mostly on the fly, shooting them on stage while performing from my close-up perches.
TNYO: I will assume that you worked in NYC, Can you tell us a little about your work there and possibly some other favorite cities that you visited or worked in?
Marty Wolff: I attended the new school in NYC briefly, for photography and took a couple of courses, but mostly my experience as a photographer is self taught, through experience, and asking a few questions of other photographers along the way. Even now,when I'm seeing anything from BBC amazing nature programs to still photography books of the great photographers, I always ask myself what was it like to be in the position to take that photograph? I tried to imagine being behind the lens that captured what I'm looking at. I always go to the eyes of the photographer, when looking at images, still or motion. My work life in New York City was brief, working largely in preparing film for newspaper printing of black and white fashion shots, so no real work occurred there.
TNYO: Marty, have you worked in other mediums over the years, painting Sculpture….
Marty Wolff: i've been offered an opportunity to do some highlighting on top of printed canvas versions of my photography by a really talented photographer here in Maui, and will be taking him up on that offer. He retouched one of my European images with just the white highlights and it really elevated the image to another feeling and so I'm going to pursue being able to do that personally for the case that I can offer that as gallery art. I'll probably keep it to my European collection exclusively so that it doesn't overlap in any way with the body of work on my website.
TNYO: Obviously you are a lover of music do you also play any instruments?
Marty Wolff; in high school, I was required to have an elective in music and briefly study the viola, and I mean briefly as my practice habits were nil. Later on on the road, I did pick up a little guitar.
While again I don't like to harbor regrets, I would've preferred, looking back, to pick up my guitar more often, and take advantage of all these great guitars, so I was touring with constantly, but I didn't!
TNYO: What is the most favorite thing in life for you?
Marty Wolff: the favorite thing in life for me is sharing beauty and emotional moments with my inner core of loved ones. My three children, my grandson, a few close, friends, and the women in my life have offered me the greatest opportunities to share joy in the present moment.
TNYO: Can you choose a music pick for our readers?
Marty Wolff: Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin - East meets West or, maybe West meets East?
Billy Cobham's Spectrum album featuring Tommy Bolin on guitar.
"Creation"
"Lemonface"
Big Island Sunrise
Apex Majesty
Rainbowflower
"Octo"
Jaws
SHARKS & RAYS
Face It
Three's A Crowd
Tiger Beach Scene
Misool Buddy
Manta Above
Maui Shells matted
Watercolor
16 x 20
Watercolor
16 x 20
Doors
Murano Women
The Lovers
Manarola Night
"The Dream"