Lou Jones (photographer)

Lou Jones is a Boston-based photographer. He specializes in advertising and corporate photography. His career ranges from photojournalism covering Central America warfare and humanitarian causes, to sports photography documenting 12 consecutive Olympics, and to jazz portraits including Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, and Charles Mingus.

Early life and education

Jones was born and raised in Washington, D.C. in 1945. His father, Leon Jones, worked for the USPS in information services. His mother, Landonia Jones, worked for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. His only sibling, younger sister Leonade Jones, is a private investor and independent financial consultant in the Washington, D.C. area.

Jones graduated from Gonzaga High School and received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After working for a summer with NASA as a rocket scientist, he attended Rensselae pursuing a graduate degree in Physics.

Career

Jones began his photography career in 1971. His commercial clients have included IBM, Major League Baseball, Federal Express, Peugeot, Museum of Fine Arts, Paris Match, KLM, National Geographic, People Magazine, Nike, Price Waterhouse, and Aetna.

He has photographed historic events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Million Man March, and twelve successive Olympic Games. In the 1980s he accompanied U.S. congressmen to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras on CODELs (COngressional DELegations) documenting government, military and rebel leaders.

In 1990, the Museum of Afro-American History commissioned Jones to honor women with "Sojourner's Daughters". This project led Aetna to hire Jones to photograph their annual African American History calendars through 2011.

Jones was president of the New England chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers from 1982-1986.

Galleries and collections

Jones' images have been exhibited in galleries such as the Smithsonian. & Corcoran Galleries in Washington, DC, Polaroid Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, DeCordova Museum in Massachusetts, Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Feuerwagner in Austria. His photographs are in the collections of such institutions as the Fogg Museum (Harvard), Wellesley College, Middle Tennessee State University, and University of Texas.

Awards and recognitions

In 2000 the International Photographic Council (United Nations) presented him with the Professional Photographers Leadership Award. Jones is a Nikon "Legend Behind the Lens" and a Lowepro Champion.

Jones’ photography books

Jones published his first book in 1997, Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row. For six years he documented men and women on death rows in the United States. It was republished in the fall of 2002. For this Jones received the Ehrmann Award from the Massachusetts Citizens against the Death Penalty. His second book, travel+PHOTOGRAPHY: off the charts, was published in 2006 and is now out of print. In collaboration with New England College Press, Jones interviewed and photographed 14 imprisoned writers for his book Exiled Voices: Portals of Discovery. Jones’ newest book, Speedlights & Speedlites: Creative Flash Photography at Lightspeed, was released in May 2009 and is in its second printing.