Mañanaville
"Sure, it is pretty, but for business this place isn’t always easy," says Jack Kotz of Santa Fe. "You wait a lot, for one thing. I call it 'mañanaville'–'tomorrow, tomorrow.' And another thing: Santa Fe doesn't have jobs. It has real estate."

In Santa Fe, tomorrow's usually worth the wait. As for jobs and real estate, Kotz has work he likes, and he has real estate. His complaints are good natured. His sarcasm doesn’t drip, it meanders. He doesn’t appear to suffer from Santa Fe’s laid-back attitude, either. In fact, he’s a lot like Santa Fe—plenty going on, no evident hurry to get it all done. Friendly, hip, garrulous. Then again, maybe it’s his shirt.

But this particular day, Jack Kotz is a house on fire. He’s heading to Hawaii with wife Mary Anne and son Nathan. This annual month-long sojourn—where he has been working on a book project for the past six years—requires a lot of planning. He’s keyed up, packing, checking lists, attending appointments and putting up with an untimely interview. Yet he somehow finds some time to meet and tell his story over two days. Both times he’s wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt. Don Ho of the desert. No lei.

(right) Kotz' experiences in architectural photography have taken him from kiva-style to manor home. Clockwise from upper left: private residence, New Mexico; detail of Stromquist House, from Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks, 1993; a notable federalist-style home, from Hallowed Ground: Preserving America's Heritage, 1996; The Clark House, from Greek Revival America, 1989.

Southern Exposure
Kotz’ life has provided a broad perspective. The son of two nationally acclaimed writers, Nick and Mary Lynn Kotz, he was raised among some of the leading artists, authors, writers, political figures and intellectuals of the past three generations. Father Nick won a Pulitzer and is regarded as an expert on both MLK and LBJ. Mary Lynn is renowned for her work on Robert Rauschenberg. Arts and letters filled Kotz’ youth. So did expectations.

“I grew up going to the National Gallery and the Corcoran," he says. “Many writers, artists and political types visited our home. Such exposure is bound to teach a person to appreciate the nature of beauty and the value of art."

Kotz also grew up with a conflicted compass, one foot in the North and one in the South. A mid-Atlantic/Northeast home life was polarized by an instinctive attraction to his mother’s native Mississippi. He spent summers visiting his maternal grandmother in the small community of Mathiston, Miss.

“If my mother has spent a lifetime trying to get away from Mississippi," says Kotz, “I spent a lifetime trying to be a part of it. It’s a rich and powerful place. It molded my fascination for the authentic and the tangible—it colors my work."

The annual trips to Mississippi were not all languid days and sultry nights. They were journeys of the imagination—and they led to Kotz’ grand oeuvre, Ms. Booth’s Garden, an homage to his grandmother and the rural community where she spent her life (more on this later).

Opportunities Seized
Early in life, Kotz permitted himself to sample some of the nice opportunities his life afforded him. “I spent my college years in Ohio trying to figure out what I wanted to do," he recalls. “I didn’t become a good student until I got interested in something. Art and music interested me."

At a family gathering, friend Joanne Goldfarb, a Washington, D.C., architect, suggested he pursue architectural photography. Another family friend, painter William Dunlap (later to become Jack’s mentor for decades) led Kotz to Walter Smalling, a well regarded photographer who worked with leading D.C. architects and National Park Service publications. Smalling hired Kotz, and he stayed five years.

The experience sent Kotz in new directions, resulting in work with Roger Kennedy, then director of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Kennedy, who had engineered many important books on American design and culture, hired Kotz as a photographer for his book series Rediscovering America, which concerned itself with American regional architecture (it later became a television series on Discovery Channel).

Perhaps Kennedy and Kotz’ best collaboration was on the book Greek Revival America. It was Kotz’s big break. “It put me on the map," he recalls. “They were Roger’s books, but they were a great opportunity for me to travel, make great photos and get them published."

(left) A home shot for a residential architect. The lights of Albuquerque are seen in the distance (from Su Casa magazine, 1999).

Although his equipment was humble and his compensation modest, Kotz’ early reputation was made with architectural images. “Shooting in cramped spaces, with poor lighting and substandard equipment, was a major challenge," Kotz remembers, “but I was able to do it. It was fun."

The Greek Revival experience also helped the young photographer refine his vision. It was also proof that getting in the door is only half the battle. What you do once inside is up to you. Kotz might have been lucky, but he was good at making the most of his luck.

Read the full article in the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of Step inside design magazine.

Thanks to our friends at Jupiter Images for sharing this great info.

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