Under amber lights legendary photographer Tony Ward transitioned from all around artist to photographer in the amount of time it takes to get high from dark room chemicals. After 30+ years in the business, the images he creates continue to inspire, while the masses perspire from the heat he brings. Whether it’s shooting for Penthouse or crisp cloth spreads with Neiman Marcus, Tony Ward is an icon. No need for surnames, we’re all family here.

At what age did you know that photography was your calling?
I first got interested in photography in high school when I learned from one of my teachers that there was a darkroom located in the school, primarily utilized for year book photography. I wandered into the lab one day and was seduced by the sense of alchemy the darkroom offers, the amber lights, the chemistry and the process involved in developing negatives and prints. When I went off to college in 1974, I enrolled in a photography course and have been in love with the medium ever since.

Did you have aspirations of becoming anything else other than a photographer?
I was interested in Art in general since I was a child. My father was a distinguished artist in his own right – a graphic designer, painter and photographer. So, it was his influence that got me immersed in the Arts. At first I wanted to be a painter and a teacher of Art, so I enrolled in one of the state teachers colleges here in Pennsylvania and received a Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In my junior year at Millersville, my teachers began to take notice of my evolving skills as a photographer, and recommended that I consider graduate studies to concentrate solely on photography. So, after finishing at Millersville, I was fortunate enough to have been accepted in to the Master of Fine Arts Photography program at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. A career in photography then became my aspiration and two years later my vocation.

My father was a distinguished artist in his own right – a graphic designer, painter and photographer. So, it was his influence that got me immersed in the Arts.

My dad always had LIFE magazine around the house where I was introduced to the work of the great documentary photographers of that time period including Eugene Smith, David Duncan, Gordon Parks and others.

Your early work carries a more candid documentary feel. Describe what you where exploring at the time.
I like many photographers involved in photography during the 1970’s was influenced by a variety of national publications where great photographs were published. My dad always had LIFE magazine around the house where I was introduced to the work of the great documentary photographers of that time period including Eugene Smith, David Duncan, Gordon Parks and others. I saw documentary photography as a way to make a living in photography and ironically 20 years later, was represented by the same agent that secured Eugene Smith some of his best assignments. She was the legendary artist representative Henrietta Brackman who was based in New York City. Henrietta had an enormous impact on my career in the early 90’s.

At what point did your focus turn to shooting females, fashion and erotica.
In 1993, while under the tutelage of Ms. Brackman, I had an epiphany and realized that my direction in photography needed to change. I had already worked a decade as a professional and grew tired of shooting commercial assignments as a means to support my life style and family. I felt at that time that my creative energy was not being fully utilized, as it was earlier in my career. I felt a desire to produce pictures again just for me like when I first studied photography at the university level. Henrietta had a way of looking at a body of work and applying it in a variety of ways through various media outlets. She was no prude either, as I was consulting with her about the nudes when she was well in to her 80’s! I turned to women as my inspiration and innocently enough began to shoot erotic images of my wife and eventually other women. Soon after, Bob Guccione the founder, publisher and creative director of Penthouse magazine learned about my work and published a 20 page portfolio, which introduced my work to the masses. After I began regularly being published in Penthouse, European popular culture magazines like MAX became interested in my work, which resulted in very creative fashion assignments. Fashion and erotica have always been intertwined, especially after Helmut Newton came on the scene in the early 1960’s.

I turned to women as my inspiration and innocently enough began to shoot erotic images of my wife and eventually other women.

I see elements of your early documentary style mixed into your fashion work where you marry the two worlds seamlessly. There’s a simplicity to your fashion work which normally lends itself to exaggeration. How do you find the right balance?
I have never considered myself a fashion photographer per se. I always see myself as a photographer first and foremost, with an interest in fashion, portraiture and erotica. These three elements combined create for me the perfect fashion photograph.

How important is the communication whether verbal or non-verbal between the model and photographer during a shoot?
Communication is everything between an artist and his subject. Trust is also crucial especially when nudity is involved. My ability to communicate with my subjects and the ease they feel within themselves during a sitting with me, I believe is my greatest gift.

My ability to communicate with my subjects and the ease they feel within themselves during a sitting with me, I believe is my greatest gift.

Are your subjects given storylines to work with emotionally for your shoots?
At times I communicate with a potential subject for years before I have a sitting with them. Through our communications, the subject usually dictates the storyline through the nature of his or her character. This is done primarily through email, and social networking, a luxury we didn’t have 20 years ago. Therefore, I am constantly working on gaining the trust of new subjects by my ability to communicate with them openly and frankly about projects I may be working on at any given time. Once the sitting actually happens, my production approach is more improvisational, which I think always brings out the best in any subject and myself. The parameters of the shoot however, are always worked out in advance through all of the pre-production communication.

Let’s say you’re hired by a client who selects a first time model with little to no experience. Do you prep the model with precise instructions or do you let her work herself into a rhythm?
Yes, when there is a client involved and the goal is to sell something, a dress, a purse or a pair of shoes, then of course the talent selected must be good at following specific direction. I always aim to keep the subject at ease, whether it be a novice or the seasoned professional, I treat both the same.

I’m always going through the archives looking for bodies of work that form a cohesiveness that is attractive to publishers. That is the key to getting the work published.

Your attention to detail from the wallpaper in a room to the stiletto a model is wearing in your photographs is amazing. Do you have a roster of stylists that you work with and choose them according to the project or have you been working with the same team for some time now?
In the past when I have shot for Neiman Marcus, I have had the luxury of working with a specific team that is usually assembled by the art director or design firm that has brought me on board to produce the pictures. For most of my personal work, I either style the model myself or work with new talent, whether it be for hair, makeup or clothing selections. I have always scouted my own locations whether I am shooting here in the States or abroad.

Who or what has helped shape your style and sensibility?
Mainly the aesthetic sensibilities of my father from childhood. He was steadfast from my earliest memories in introducing me to art history through the various museums and cultural institutions here in Philadelphia where I was born and raised. Also, there were numerous trips to Washington, D.C. and New York and even a world’s fair when I was very young. Watching him work at his drawing board at home during my formative years was most impressionable on my young psyche.

You’ve published five books of your own. What inspires you to tell yourself its time make another one?
I’m always going through the archives looking for bodies of work that form a cohesiveness that is attractive to publishers. That is the key to getting the work published. I’m in the process of editing for the 6th monograph now, which I hope to have in the market place by 2010.

Do you have a muse or a favorite model to work with?
Not at the present time, but I have had several in the past.

Please tell us what’s in the immediate future for Tony Ward.
Branding the name……

Taste More:
www.tonyward.com