Greetings!
I have been playing with cameras since I was a kid in the north end of Elizabeth, NJ. But got my first SLR (Canon FTBn which I still have) in 1974. Studied photography in college with a guy named Ed Scully who was the editor of Camera 35 magazine and other magazines. He was a crusty Navy guy who never patted anyone on the back (becaue he was too tired from kicking them in the ass another student once said in class).
I got my first photo job in NYC in 1979 in a catalog studio on West 23rd St between 10th and 11th Ave (next to what is now the Highline). We photographed everything "to size" on large format cameras. I joke that I have been working my way down in size over the years, starting with 11x14 Deardorff (large format), 8x10 (medium format), and 4x5 (small format).
Almost all of my work back then was still life, product, advertising. But I had my 35mm for some personal work photographing friends. My first nude was in college. The subject was my roommate's friend Alice. We planned to photograph each other for a class assignment, but she decided to not shoot that day, but did pose for me. I only have this one frame from that day. I somehow lost all my b/w negatives from that era at my mom's house.
I was pretty quiet and shy and didn't pursue nudes much in the beginning. I did my time in NY until the mid-80s when all the ad agencies were being bought up and it just wasn't fun. I got into computers and got a few gigs helping other photographers get started with the then new IBM PC and client databases. That led to typesetting. That led to moving to Seattle and working at Adobe for 20 years. I maintained a hobby interest in photography until about 2000 or so when I saw a photo from an Olympus digital camera that looked really good. When Canon released the 30D I jumped fully into the digital world.
In 1999 I fell into the arts and circus worldd in Seattle and went to my first Burning Man that year. All of a sudden I had people recognizing me for my photography and coming to me to be photographed nude. Now when I call on a friend to see if they can help with a photo project they ask if nude or clothed and usually turn down the clothed projects.
Going back to the early days, one of my first hero photographers was Robert Farber. I still have the books from back then. That started my photo book collection that has grown to more than 500 books.
Jump forward again to COVID. I couldn't have people in the studio. I was bored. I started calling on photo friends and recording a series of live Conversations via Zoom and archived on YouTube. One of the people who discovered me there was Michael Newler, a NYC photographer who had started the Canon Explorers of Light program and knew just about everyone in the industry. During a phone call with Michael I mentioned Robert and Michael told me they were long-time friends who's dads knew each other in Newark, NJ (next to Elizabeth). Soon after I had Robert on as a guest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtR0Gru6HyY .
Covid eased up, I started photographing again, and the Conversations ended. Now I am photographing a couple of times a week. I tend to do projects. Chair Project. Cocoon Series. I even did a Mask Series in COVID. You can see PG versions on Instagram (@cornicellophoto and @thechairproject_plus).
I am primarily a studio photographer. I wrote a self-published book called The Anatomy of a Studio Portrait (available on Amazon) and was a regular on an educational website, CreativeLive for a number of years, assisting with all the lighting setups for photographers teaching on the platform.
I'll end this with my latest self-portrait from last week. Looking foward to meeting folks here. Cheers! John
John, Thank you for sharing your story. Always interesting to hear how your life and career has eveloved. How you met Michael Newler who I must say, deserves the credit because he created the whole idea and successfully develop the Explore of Light program for Canon. That was in 1995. When he contacted me at that time to be part of it, I hadn't spoken to him, or seen him in a number of years. So that's what originally got me involved with Canon because before that I was involved with a number of other cameras over the years, first Nikon, Hassalblad, Minolta, and Contax. And I continue my relationship with Canon to this date. So Michael Newler as been an important "marketing asset" for Canon.
I also want to thank you for your appreciation of my work from early on... and I enjoyed and appreciated your interview show. Are you still doing it? ....you should!