From Wall Street to Tree Tops
A very good friend of mine, a prominent private banker, sent me an e-mail this morning: “My dear friend and client Zeze, who is considered by the Zagat survey to be “The Best of Bests” florist around, is expanding his horizons. He, and his wife Peggy, have partnered with Roberto Belissimo and his wife Monica, both former Chefs atLe Cirque to open Ze Cafe. Zeze, savy as he can be, decided to grow and diversify in these bearish times. Kudos Zeze! Please check out the New York Times blurb.”
After receiving this information, I wrote back, “Would you like to get out of Wall Street and work for me in the joellelifestyle? He replied, ” I owe you several calls, I have been working 16 hours a day including weekends, traveling like crazy, it’s hilarious to realize that when you get on a plane, the flight attendant already knows you by name… I have no idea of what a personal life is, but wasn’t it Einstein who said ” In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity?” What have you been up to? By the way, that ” story” of getting out of Wall Street is nowadays very well accepted by former bankers!”
Last week, a good friend from Brazil forwarded me an invitation: “Through the Lens of Nathaniel Kramer” -Â cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to celebrate the opening exhibition of photographs by Nathaniel Kramer at Guy Regal on 223 East 60th Street in New York.
Trusting my friend, I checked it out on the Internet; encountering words such as private equities, public and private capital markets, investments, digital media-focused venture media, entertainment, telecommunications, video service provider Broadband Enterprises, wireless infrastructure, waste management, data communications, B2B commerce and Internet infrastructure sectors and environmental asset managements. Strange, very strange.
Intrigued more than ever, I decided to contact Nathaniel—especially because I love his name, strong powerful but yet delicate and passionate. After introducing myself and mentioning my friend’s name, I ask him if he would give me the pleasure of an interview for my on line review. “My first interview,”he says, of course Joelle it will be a pleasure to meet you but my work is still piled in my dining room and it will have to wait after the show.”
His astrological sign is Gemini; although he tells me he does not like to interpret life through astrology or psychology.
The show was a success. I had to guess which one among these tall elegant New York men was Nathaniel Kramer. And there he was, talking to a young little blond girl holding her grandmother’s hand Terry Allen Kramer who was looking for her coat before going away. “Your coat,” I hear him say, “is the only child coat among all others and it’s not difficult to find!” Among his friends Samantha and Aby Rosen, Arianna Boardman, James and Margo Nederlander, hedge fund oracle John Paulson, Kelly Klein ,and Valesca Guerrand-Hermes. Everyone, including antique connoisseurs, clients, critics and photographers, were making sure to catch his attention.
Large framed photographs of orchids are harmoniously assembled among rigorously selected 17th and 18th century Continental furniture at the elegant Upper Est Side brownstone gallery. There is a warm light inside and it really feels cozy while it’s raining outside. Other photographic collages of blossoming treetops reign through intricate patterns over the quite first floor where we are both sitting for a chat over Starbucks coffee.
Like his father, Nathaniel loved photography and instinctively grew up among the latest Hasselblads, Nikons, and Pentax cameras which his father collected through the years.
In 1985, he was working in his family business. He was 25 and bored. His hidden desire was to meet pretty girls and admired the fashion photographers great lifestyle. His thoughts were: “You get to go to Saint Barth …Lets do this. I am going to leave Wall Street and become a photographer.”
With close friend Muriel Brandolini (who at the time was an ambitious young stylist) he flew to Milan and began knocking on doors. He got introduced to Franca Sozzani, the forefront woman of fashion who at the time was directing legendary publications LEI since 1980 and PER LUI since 1982 before heading up the Italian edition of VOGUE starting in 1988. (She was appointed Editor in Chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.)
Sozzani gives him a job shooting a newspaper insert for LEI.He meets models, has great Mozzarella sandwiches for lunch and in the first year he is forced to shoot thousands of shots (scared to miss the right one). He is successful. “I liked my pictures but I had very little technical skill from high school.” On his way back to New York he decides to play smart.
Nathaniel looks for assistants who have worked with iconic photographers such as Albert Watson, Herb Ritts, and Arthur Elgort, who teach him the tricks and lab techniques. He returns to Italy, despite his father disapproval (who thought he was out of his mind and that photography was only to be considered as a hobby unlike his great grand father who was a professional photographer). American magazines started wanting him to shoot for them. Unfortunately the first jobs are with male models, not exactly what he was looking for. Eventually, he starts shooting regularly for Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, ELLE and Marie Claire . His first job for Seventeen is shooting young Hollywood stars like Jennifer Connelly, and then his dream has came true. He married a model.
,“The marriage was a disaster .”
As time passed, Nathaniel, had to prove that it was not a dream just because he was well connected. He shoot a lot in the Bahamas were his mother had a home, photography became a 9-to-5 job and he tells me at that time still he “payed for business to get more business.” “I knew that a little investment upfront could bring substantially larger returns down the road. If you got the editorial work which payed basically nothing, the big money catalog and advertising jobs always followed.”
He got fast, better, and counted among his steady clients, J.Crew, Talbots, Ray Ban, and Macys, He shot national campaigns for Gap, Cover Girl and Reebok. But he did not like the harsh way and hypocrisy he was treated with. “Getting every pound of your flesh, I also did not like rejection…your agent says they really like you and then you don’t get the job, why don’t they say so from the beginning?” Eventually, the adventure became just another 9-to-5 job. “I realized then, that I wasn’t going to be one of the top 20 photographers in the world, and being only in the top 200 wasn’t worth the headaches that came along with running a photography business. I was like a carpenter. The work became commerce. And like a carpenter, if I don’t show up to pound nails, I don’t get paid!
As his interest in the still image begins to decrease, he looks for new mediums.
In 1992, snowing on the beach, a rope tied on his waist and of the woman who will be the mother of his son he shoots his first images in a reel . It is just 3 minutes of her with a snow storm and the Atlantic ocean spinning around her, set to an old Sinatra song. He is “allowed” to film for a few TV commercials. “This is going to be really hard,” he thinks.
Through a friend, he meets a guy who was just released after serving 20 years in prison for murder. He produces his story into a documentary with actor Martin Sheen and Lawrence Fishburne, interviewing other prisoners in loco with similar stories. “CHOICES wins best documentary of the year at the Houston internation film festival, get nominated for an Emmy, and also wins three International Monitor awards.
After the successful experience, the idea of making low budget films and going straight to video, comes to his mind but this time without putting his money but raising it from Blockbuster Entertainment Group.. The movie, “Monster Mash” is inspired by by the famous song by the same name.
In 1997, he decides to follow the steps of his mother as theatrical producer (“I didn’t want to go back to Wall Street or fashion photography”). As his first experience in theater, he produces on Broadway, Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” It goes without saying that he gets awarded with a Tony, surprising his mother and the milieu. Nathaniel jumps into a new challenge.
In 1998, watching the internet boom, he gets together with an old friend and they start a venture capital fund to invest in media technologies. “It was a lot of fun the first year” but we all know what happened when the boom went bust. The next 6 years were not fun and finally I picked up my camera again.
“Two years ago after my second divorce,” he pauses, “I proved myself everywhere. I now like doing what I feel inside… One day, looking at some tree tops and reflecting about life, I took my camera and shot a few, I wondered coming back home how they would in look framed in collage form.
“Today, I wait during seasons days with no sunshine, the very flat sunlight, the proper tree shape, the light color manipulation and examine in my mind which one will look good , how it will play with the shadows, how is this going to look when I flop it upside down. I often get to walk by myself in Central Park and Long Island.
After two years, his work has matured. He first showed the prints to his friend Guy at the gallery for an honest opinion who suggested he do a show, his first show.
“Nathaniel,” I ask, “I have three more questions then I will let you go.” He smiles, I guess he is amused and relaxed,”
“Not at all,” he is so polite finishing the last drop of his coffee. “I thank you for your support”.
The Orchdis? “They are sensual, sorry if I may seem rude, vaginal.”
Future projects? “Roses, doves…fishing… just under water….something so relaxing….”
Investment funds? “I am very immature…I will find something else.”
He told me he changes careers every 7 years… But what he didn’t realize yet is that he is flying to the top.
Joelle’s Tips:
The Gallery : Guy Regal lltd Store Location: 223 E. 60th St., New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-888-2134 • Fax: 212-888-2136/ guy@guyregalltd.com
Store Hours: Monday–Friday 10am–6pm and Saturdays 11am–5pm
The Artist: Nathaniel Kramer
For Info on photographic Collages :Contact phoebe@guyregalltd.com
