In Honor of Earth Day My Daugther Chloe’s Hands Holding Earth
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American Proverb I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but […]
” Portrait of Long Island: The North Fork and the Hamptons” Exhibition Madelle Hegeler Semerjian gallery in the Roger Memorial Library
” Portrait of Long Island: The North Fork and the Hamptons” Exhibition By Jake Rajs Madelle Hegeler Semerjian gallery in the Roger Memorial Library 91 Coopers Farm Road, Southampton, NY, Exhibition April 2- April 30. hours 10am-9 pm Mon-Thu, Sat 10-5 , Sun 1-5 Link To Review in Hampton Arts
7 World Trade Center, Manhattan, NYC, 2010
I was drawn by the way the building seems to disappear become part of the clouds and sky. JR To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the […]
“New York City Landmarks” Photographs by Jake Rajs Text by Francis Marrone
Press Release New York City Landmarks Jake Rajs Antique Collectors’ Club9781851496853 £12.95 Hardback 195 mm x 145 mm 236 pages Publishing May 2012 Stunning images of New York’s most famous landmarks, captured in ways never seen before. Includes 10 fold-out spreads and the history behind each landmark. New York is constantly changing and reinventing […]
Still, Long Island Sound, by Jake Rajs
Still, Sunset, Cutchogue, NY, Long Island Sound, Birch Beach, 2005 When I first saw the beauty of the afterglow on the Long Island Sound I was captured. There was this abstract expressionist quality to the scene. Each minute the colors changed. This was one of those sunsets were the colors glowed and yet there was […]
Between Sea and Sky Landscapes of Long Island’s North Fork by Jake Rajs
Between Sea and Sky Landscapes of Long Island’s North Fork A Note From The Photographer Jake Rajs Three years ago, at work on a book about the Atlantic Ocean, I found myself on the North Fork. I was excited by the light, the land, and the sea. Photographing a sunset on the Sound and experiencing […]
Modern Home, 733 Daniels Lane, designed by Charles Gwathmey, Sagaponack, New York
Modern Home, 733 Daniels Lane, designed by Charles Gwathmey, Sagaponack, New York, Was very happy to photograph this Gwathmey House. He was one of America’s best modern architects. It was one of the most beautiful homes I have photographed. It was perfectly conceptually and physically put together. The geometry, light, forms and quality of the […]
Snowy Road to My Studio in Catskill Mountains, New York, picture of the day
This is a picture of a road to a studio that was a cabin I had in the Catskill Mountains. There were days that the only way in was to snow shoe. One had the peace to focus on creating without distractions. This ultimately led to a book on the Hudson River. For an […]
New York, South Fork, Quogue, wave curl
Wave Curl, Quogue, NY, I had driven about an hour to get to the beach at sunrise. It was a clear day. The waves were rolling in beautifully. I shot about 500 photos to get the perfect moment when the wave feels like a glass petal.
Blue Sparkle, Atlantic Ocean, Montauk, New York, Long Island, South Fork
Blue Sparkle, Atlantic Ocean, Montauk, 2004 I was high on the bluffs on the Eastern most spot In Long Island looking out at the vast expanse of the ocean, It was late morning the sky and the ocean where this wonderful blue. The sun created these wonderful sparkles on the water. On a wall it […]
Playing volleyball, Ponquogue Beach, Hampton Bays, NY
Playing volleyball, Ponquogue Beach, Hampton Bays, NY. This is a composite of 2 pictures, shot over the span of 45 minutes. One of the volleyball players and one of the family walking with the stripped beach towels. The luminous lighting and harmony of the repetitive lines of the snow fence, blue beach towels and the […]
Manhattan An Island In Focus book by Jake Rajs
Manhattan an Island in Focus introduction Manhattan is a romance between the dreams of its people and their reality. As a photographer I try to capture those special visual moments when the dream becomes a real. My earliest memory of the city is the immigrant’s introduction to the Promised Land. I was eight years […]
Jake Rajs’ by Peter Kotsinadelis These United States—The Definitive American Landscape, Rangefinder Magazine Article
Jake Rajs’ by Peter Kotsinadelis These United States—The Definitive American Landscape, Rangefinder Magazine Article They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That being the case, one could say the images in Jake Rajs’ new book, These United States, speak volumes. The book is the most recent from the New York-based photographer and took […]
Presidents Day, Washington’s Birthday, Mount Vernon, Mount Rushmore by Jake Rajs
Mount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of George Washington, the first President of the United States. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and is located along the Potomac River. Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to […]
Bio Jake Rajs
Jake Rajs Jake Rajs was born in Poland and moved to Israel before coming to Brooklyn at age eight. “My father came first, while we were in Israel, maybe it’s my childhood memory talking, but we came on a ship. It took two weeks, and then we arrived in New York harbor. We […]
Parade for Hostages returning from Iran, Broadway, Manhattan, photo by Jake Rajs
The experience of photographing Manhattan is so overwhelming that time seems to stop. When the hostages were freed from Iran in 1981 and New York gave them a ticker-tape parade, I got a press pass and found a good vantage point on the ledge of high above Broadway. All of the sudden I could hear […]
Shooting Aerials from a helicopter, Empire and Statue of Liberty buildings,NYC
One of the most exciting experiences I have is photographing the city from a helicopter. It’s like being Superman, swooping in and around the buildings, circling the Statue of Liberty. Just as the camera is a machine that I can use to extend my vision, the helicopter is another extension, giving me the ability to fly. […]
The journey is the reward. -Tao Saying California, Route 1, Big Sur, Aerial, Pacific Ocean. Sunset
The journey is the reward. -Tao Saying California, Route 1, Big Sur, Aerial, Pacific Ocean. Sunset
Freedom
When I was eight, my parents immigrated to the United States from Poland via Israel because of the freedom that America offered. I created this picture with images from around the country that involved this countries struggle to create freedom. Collage of the places in the United States that show the journey towards freedom. Pictures […]
Heart Rocks
When I started exploring the shoreline of the North Fork of Long Island, I noticed that there where a lot of rocks shaped like hearts. I collected them and one day put them back in the water and photographed this scene. i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart) i am […]
IAC building designed by Frank O. Gehry and 100 Eleventh Avenue designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Beyer Blinder Bell, Chelsea, NYC
Sunset from the Highline, NYC I was walking on the Highline 3 years ago and saw the IAC building designed by Frank O. Gehry and 100 Eleventh Avenue designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Beyer Blinder Bell, realized how much New York had changed. I’m always trying to create something that has never been created before. […]
Canyons of the Ancients, Colorado
Winter morning driving the back roads of Colorado. The storm was clearing and I decided to snowshoe into Canyons of the Ancients, to see the Lowry Pueblo Ruins, an Indian ruin that I had not visited before. As the sun started coming out it illuminated the fresh snow and ruins. The ancient ruins contrasted with the […]
Marsh, Dawn, Quogue, New York
When I photograph a landscape, I try to capture the miracle that there is nothing more beautiful and perfect than what is created by nature. It has a calming, soothing and inspiring influence on our spirit, reminding us to appreciate each day and celebrate the unique beauty that exists only in the moment. Jake Rajs
Publishing Books by Jake Rajs
This is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a young man interested in doing books. These words by Beatrice Warde capture how it feels to walk into a publisher’s office. “This is a printing office crossroads of civilization refuge of all the arts against the ravages of time…friend you stand on sacred ground.” […]