Jonathan
Postal
My Life & Hard Times
Born in New York
City, Jonathan Postal is now older than he was before. Nothing much
happened until he found himself in London, art directing the International
Times. One of their photographers, Mr. Snow, convinced Postal
that he would never be much of an illustrator and encouraged him
to purchase a camera. Returning to the States, Postal was told in
a bar in New Orleans that San Francisco Art Institute was a good
place to study photography, so he applied and was accepted. He pretty
much spent the next four years there--except when he was elsewhere--and
received a BFA in photography. Next, he wasted several years playing
in rock bands: first as a founding member of the Avengers, but primarily
as the lead vocalist in the Readymades. Postal then returned to
NYC where he worked for the Soho Weekly News as a photographer.
He also freelanced for such publications as Vanity Fair,
Rolling Stone, Guitar World, The New York
Times, and Interview. Postal then went to Milan to
shoot fashion and try to pickup tall girls. In Milan, he worked
for Vogue Vanity, Vogue Pelle, Amica,
and Max, as well as various advertising projects. Drinking
entirely too much coffee and realizing that he would never speak
Italian, he relocated to London. While living in London, Postal
was associated with The Black and White Gallery. He continued to
shoot editorial projects for Tattler, She, Face,
and Timeout, as well as record and book covers, and ads
for clients such as Max Factor, Caroline Charles, and anyone else
who would have him. During this period, Postal also made trips to
New York and Australia to shoot projects for Time Life,
YM, Liz Claiborne, WEA, and CBS Records, among others.
While in Australia, Australian Professional Photographer
published a feature on him. Moving to New Orleans, Postal and his
cat acquired a dog. He did much work for New Orleans Magazine
and also began exhibiting his fine art photography at various
galleries. While out for a drive one day, Postal found himself accidentally
relocated in Memphis, TN, where he started exhibiting at the Cooper
Street Gallery (now the Jay Etkin Gallery). He won the Memphis Arts
Festival’s Best of Photography award three times and is in
the collection of both the City of Memphis and the City of Nashville.
After working as the Creative Director of Eye Magazine,
and being honored with an ADDI for his work for The Humane Society,
Postal spent five years as the Photo Editor and photographer of
Towery Publications. Postal was then hired by the New Times
and moved to volatile Miami, Florida where he worked as staff photographer
and taught photography at the Miami International University of
Art & Design. Jonathan Postal is now working out of Memphis
Tennessee
|