The Compelling Image

Aaron Lee Fineman

b. (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1975,
Photographer, Lives in New York City.

My first professional job as a photographer began with the book, The Big Click: Photographing Georgia, July 2-5, 1992, where one of my photographs was featured on the title page. But it was my work for the New York Times that launched my freelance photography career, with an assignment to photograph Rosanne Cash's book signing in SoHo and culminating with a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News, as well as being part of a team that contributed to the New York Times winning a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

After receiving my BFA in photography at New York University's TISCH School of the Arts, I would continue to freelance for the Times along with a number of other clients, which cultivated my versatility as a photographer and enabled me to photograph my way through the bowels of New York City, to the wreckage of the Twin Towers, and into the homes of celebrities. Additional subjects over the years have ranged from teenage prostitutes on the streets of Brooklyn to Presidential Candidates to rave parties. One of my photographs of a guard at Rikers Island Jail is sealed inside the New York Times Magazine Millennium Time Capsule, to be opened in the year 3000.

While my love of documentary photography remains, my repertoire now includes environmental portraiture as well as work as a Director of Photography on various film projects along with teaching photography.

You can view more of Aaron's work on his personal website.