Adam Jahiel

Biography

Adam Jahiel was born on April 27, 1956 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and raised in Urbana, Illinois. Adam was educated at the Brooks Institute of Photography where he majored in commercial photography. He also studied at University of Missouri Columbia where he completed a degree in photojournalism.

Adam apprenticed with Douglas Kirkland for two years in Los Angeles, CA and began his freelance career in Los Angeles doing editorial, motion picture and corporate photography, for approximately 8 years. Adam has had a varied professional career, working for the motion picture industry and on adventure projects, most notably as the photographer for the landmark French-American 1987 Titanic expedition. His work has appeared in most major U.S. publications, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, National Geographic Society, and others. Adam’s work has also appeared in numerous books, including the acclaimed “The Day in a Life of” series.

For years, Adam has been photographing the cowboys of the Great Basin, perhaps one of the most inhospitable regions of the already rugged West. These people represent one of the last authentic American subcultures, one that is disappearing at a rapid rate. Cowboying as an art form is almost obsolete; still, the cowboys hang on, with a ferocious tenacity. Respect there doesn’t come from the trappings of modern life. Talent, knowledge and skill are valued above all else. And the cowboy tradition has its roots in the oldest of human conflicts: man against nature and man against himself. Jahiel tries to reflect these sentiments in his photographs. These cowboys aren’t “remade” into a Hollywood image. Instead, they are “found” images, in keeping with the spirit of authenticity that permeates the best keepers of this tradition.

Adam currently resides with his wife, two children, two dogs, three cats, and five horses.