Jason Grow Photography

Fast Company shoot — Ashifi Gogo/Sproxil

Jason Grow — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:45:23 +0000

“Find a need and fill it” – Ruth Stafford Peale’s motto — and clearly something that Dr. Ashifi Gogo and the folks at Sproxil have taken to heart. They’ve been developing a “Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA™) solution” that utilizes scratch cards and text messages to verify the authenticity of pharmaceuticals sold in developing countries where counterfeit products are rife, jeopardizing the health of patients. Now this verification system gives the thumbs up or down depending on whether the code on the product matches the legit drugs. Fast Company named it the 7th most innovative company for 2013 in their recent issue and the always terrific PE Leslie Dela Vega asked me to photograph him for the magazine. http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2013/sproxil

Dr. Ashifi Gogo, CEO Sproxil

It’s all about the Cloud… not that one, REAL Clouds… in the sky.

Jason Grow — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:45:22 +0000

Recently had the pleasure of photographing Daniel Cziczo, an atmospheric researcher at MIT, for Colin Jaworski at Technology Review Magazine.

Cziczo studies cirrus clouds and more specifically the aerosols and particles that form and affect them and consequently their effect on global climate change. Another area he’s looking pretty hard at is the whole notion of essentially creating an atmosphere where none exists now… think red planets and long term space colonization. I’ve said it before, photographing at MIT can make me feel like a real dunce… especially when you consider that what most of us would consider science fiction, these folks call their job.

The magazine chose a shot of him in the lab with a cloud chamber and a sky shot from the rooftop of the MIT Green Building for their cover… both of which were dandy… but I kind of liked the whimsy of this shot of him against the chalkboard.

Daniel Cziczo, atmospheric researcher at MIT

: Daniel Cziczo holding a cloud in a glass vessel.

Nanoparticle research for tissue repair and regeneration… why… what do you do?

Jason Grow — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:57:31 +0000

The older I get the more I realize how much I don’t know. The more I work for publications like HHMI Bulletin, MIT Technology Review, Fast Company etc., photographing science and technology rock stars, the more I realize how much I will NEVER EVER EVER know… really a lot more than I would like to admit, but this stuff is so cool. Even if I don’t fully understand what it is they’re doing, I’m very very glad they are.

Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia, Director of the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies at MIT. Photographed for HHMI Bulletin, Winter 2013 http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/winter2013/features/bhatia_profile.html

“gaga” to “water”… in about 40 seconds…

Jason Grow — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:34:04 +0000

Personally I think it’s a bit selfish when people are both brilliant and handsome. It’s even worse when they’re really nice as well. I know that’s a bit shallow on my part, but I’m not apologizing… That’s the combination I had to deal with in photographing Deb Roy, professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-founder & chairman at BlueFin Labs for the The Human Face of Big Data project (http://humanfaceofbigdata.com).

Take a look at his TED Talk to get a get a taste of what he’s up to in both cognitive research and what may well be the ultimate in extreme home videos: http://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word.html (there’s a great audio timelapse of his son learning the word “water” starting about 4:15).

Bluefin Labs co-founder, Chairman and CEO Deb Roy

Bluefin Labs co-founder, Chairman and CEO Deb Roy - The Human Face of Big Data select

Recent work…

Jason Grow — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:01:45 +0000

Always lagging behind on posting new work…

A couple of section covers for Barron’s assigned by Adrian DeLucca… Hedge fund manager Joe Patton at JP Marvel Investments in Boston and Peter Dixon, Fidelity Investment’s Select Retailing fund manager:

Sharon Carlson at Penton Media asked me to photograph Mary Keough-Anderson on location at the Revere Hotel in Boston for Corporate Meetings & Incentives:

And Maggie Soladay at American Lawyer/Corporate Counsel asked to photograph a cover of Harvard Law professors David Wilkins and Ben Heineman, and Luke Bierman from Northeastern University School of Law for the opener of their November issue.

Blink of an eye…

Jason Grow — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:01:17 +0000

Matilda aged 4, photographed on 20x24 Polaroid - Mother's Day 2002

Fifteen years ago, after nearly giving up all hope that it would ever happen, we were graced with the arrival of the first of our three amazing girls… It seems inconceivable that a decade and a half has flown by so quickly… Happy Birthday Matilda.

Happy New Year! (so far)…

Jason Grow — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:33:30 +0000

We’ve managed to avoid an apocalypse and at least one fiscal cliff. Some pretty cool and wonderful things happened last year, but some pretty horrible stuff that ought to shake our social sensibilities happened as well. And while some things are looking up, it’s still definitely tough for a lot of folks out there (my wife Sarah works at our local food pantry and sees first hand that even in the land of plenty, it ain’t plentiful for everyone). Let’s make 2013 the year we start to get our act together and work to make the world just a bit better for all our neighbors near and far…

wwwdotfamedotcom

Jason Grow — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:49:38 +0000

A recent shoot I did had me pondering fame, especially in light of the supersaturation of celebrity and exposure that is a staple of our 21st Century existence. With the tweeting, the youtubing, the liking and sharing and facebooking nearly every conceivable aspect and moment of our lives, we are inundated with a tsunami of possibilities for becoming instantly famous (or infamous). When a 16-year old kid becomes an international pop star worth over $100M because his mom uploaded up some home videos of him on Youtube, it takes the whole concept of hanging out at Schwab’s Pharmacy to a stratospherically different dimension.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, photographed for Time Magazine.

So it was with a touch of irony that I was looking forward to photographing Sir Tim Berners-Lee for Marie Tobias at Time Magazine. I mean seriously, who could possibly be MORE famous than Sir Tim Berners-Lee? He’s the guy who INVENTED the world wide web!!.. Huh? Who? Ah, fame…

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One of the most common questions I get asked as a photographer is, “Who’s the most famous person you’ve photographed?” Asked as often as I am, you’d think I’d have a quick answer, but in truth I almost always look like I’m having a Scooby moment. Honestly, I don’t really think about the fame aspect of the people I meet.

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I’ve photographed some pretty famous people I think, you know, actors, authors, artists. I can sorta play ‘Six-degrees from Kevin Bacon’ because I got to photograph him when I lived in San Francisco. At one point I photographed The MOST famous actor in the world, Jackie Chan, and no one I knew had ever heard of the guy. (By the way, one of the sweetest guys, who can also break every bone in your body, you’re ever likely to meet).

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Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no problem with someone being famous, it just doesn’t register with me as a singularly important identifying trait. Most of the people I photograph are being shot because they’ve actually done something really really smart, or cool, or that’s never been done before. I mean, Snooki is “famous” but I don’t actually know why she’s famous, and I’m sure the Kardashians are lovely people, but I don’t know why I know who they are, I just do.

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It got me thinking about the subjects of many of my assignments over the years doing, envisioning and creating things that impact our lives in very profound, amazing and permanent ways, yet who sail way below any celebrity radar. Ray Tomlinson for instance, the guy who put the “@” in your email, writing a protocol that completely changed the very means by which we communicate. It’s pretty unlikely that his name will every be uttered in the same sentence as Lady Gaga. No slight to the Gaga, but here’s a guy who really should be not only super famous but insanely, Zuckerbergian-rich, yet if he were a final Jeopardy question I think most players would draw a blank.

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Then there’s this guy Sir Tim Berners-Lee – did I mention that he’s the guy who put the WWW into your every waking hour? And he’s a KNIGHT! How cool is that? I bet you if you asked 100 random people on any street (except maybe in Kendall Square or Palo Alto) who this guy is and you’d get way more shrugs than glimmers of recognition. Ask folks to identify him from a picture and the level of vagueness would probably rise to nearly 100%. Yet what he he did literally changed the entire freaking world – forever.

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I thought it was particularly cool that director Danny Boyle included Sir Tim in the Olympic festivities. As we sat in our living room watching the spectacle, I thought of the billions of people around the world, staring at their screen wondering who the hell was this guy and why was he tapping on an old computer in the middle of the Olympics Opening Ceremony?

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Well, Boyle got it spot on because he figured out that the Olympics is an event that ties the entirety of the world together, if only for a few weeks. What better symbol of that profound human interconnectedness than having the guy who found a way to link us all together, tapping out the message: “This is for everyone”.

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http://techland.time.com/2012/09/05/10-questions-for-sir-tim-berners-lee/

Ray Tomlinson, The Father of Email.

Wimpy Kids Rule…

Jason Grow — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:47:20 +0000

My girls love to read. I mean really really love to read. They got their library cards when they were four and now they’re tattered and well worn… so when I got a call from Time Magazine editor Marie Tobias to photograph Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series for their 10 Questions feature, I asked them if they knew this guy… I think if I had told them I was photographing Justin Bieber they would have shrugged and asked if they could have some fudge, but Kinney got a most enthusiastic thumbs up… so much so that I took the rare step of having them come on the shoot with me. Now this isn’t something I do on a regular basis, but heading to Jeff Kinney’s house in Plainville on the day before their 11th birthday, I figured I’d be in pretty big trouble if they didn’t get a chance to meet one of their literary faves. As for celebrity, for a guy with a smash book series selling a few gazillion copies and a few movies under his belt, not to mention his “day job” as the creator of Poptropica, Kinney seems utterly non-plussed by it all – self-effacing, a bit shy but utterly kind and generous with his time.

Jeff Kinney, author of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Good Neighbors Are Good To Have…

Jason Grow — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:42:46 +0000

Late last year Bill Black at Reader’s Digest commissioned me to photograph portraits for a new series their magazine was running on Hometown Heroes – stories of ordinary folks stepping up to do the extraordinary for their neighbors. A duet of heart-tugging stories which in one instance, in the case of Donald Lubeck and Jeremie Wentworth meant saving a life, and in the other – Belva Davis and Nancy Brigham – it meant saving a home.

In addition to shooting the portraits, one in Western Mass and the other in Detroit, Bill asked me to add video to the mix which was a new challenge but one I enjoyed immensely. Thanks to Michael Kasino for pulling the edit together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p40C8CY9N4&feature=player_embedded (Belva Davis & Nancy Brigham)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1JeFGrEvhVg (Jeremy Wentworth and Donald Lubeck).

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/inspiring/hometown-heroes-saving-a-neighbor’s-life/?trkid=more_to_read

http://www.rd.com/true-stories/inspiring/hometown-heroes-neighbors-battle-the-bank/