This is a tribute (a very poor tribute) to Jay Maisel, a photographer and writer who died this month aged 95. He wasn’t the best known photographer, but many will know one of his most famous works - the cover of the Miles Davis album “Kind of Blue”. His pictures, his articles and books (particularly “Light, Gesture and Color”) show a grasp of picture-making that is almost incomparable, but which offer a guide to all those who carry a camera. To me he ranks alongside Saul Leiter and Fred Herzog as the seminal figures in the photographic pantheon and over the years he has taught me so much.

“Find the rip in the fabric.” Jay Maisel (1931 - 2026)