Mount Vernon graduate has got it covered
October 01, 2009 · Dave Morris

Mount Vernon native Zach Wolfe's photos are getting a lot of exposure these days.

The Sept. 21 issue of Time magazine, which featured the theme "Out of Work in America," showcased his photographs on the cover and inside.

For Time, the Atlanta-based Wolfe and a San Francisco-based photographer were assigned to shoot pictures of people at unemployment offices in those cities. Their pictures were then assembled for a composite piece of art for the cover, and individual shots were used inside the magazine and on the Time's website.

Wolfe, 31, got the Time assignment through his acquaintance with Time assistant photo editor Leslie dela Vega, who Wolfe had worked with when shooting photos for Vibe magazine, where dela Vega used to work.

"She'd been pulling for me to get an assignment" at Time, he said.

Wolfe began shooting photos seriously when he was a student at Mount Vernon High School. Wolfe, who described himself as "not a motivated student," didn't find a place to fit in until his art teacher, the late Donna Swenson, loaned him a camera and film. He went out after school with some friends and shot away.

"The next day, I developed the film, and I was hooked," he said. "That was when I was 16."

He credits his parents, Kim and Glenn Wolfe, with helping him set up a darkroom.

"I could see they really wanted to help me," he said. "My mom did a lot of research for grants and loans for college with Donna Swenson."

After graduating from MVHS in 1996, he spent two years earning an associate's degree at the Colorado Institute of Art (now known as the Art Institute of Colorado) in Denver, where he concentrated on the technical side of photography.

Wolfe refers to himself as an editorial / documentary-style photographer.

"I look at my subjects as stories," he said. "Everything I do - if there's one style I have - I try to be very neutral and capture people as they are. I don't really direct people."

After college, he spent a year interning at the prestigious Smashbox Studios in Los Angeles. Smashbox is known for its work with celebrities and was started by the great-grandsons of cosmetics pioneer Max Factor.

He then returned to Denver to work for other photographers, but soon realized he wanted to continue working with celebrities. He spent four years assisting other photographers in Atlanta, and now shares a studio with another photographer in an empty warehouse as he further develops his business, Zach Wolfe Photography. Ten other spaces in the building are rented out to other artists.

He works with his Los Angeles-based agent to get some photo jobs, and books others on his own. For most of his work, Wolfe uses a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera that also can shoot video.

While his work has taken him throughout the nation, much of it now is in Atlanta, where he has photographed many established and up-and-coming hip hop artists and other musicians, including Lil Wayne, Outkast, DJ Drama, The Black Lips, Soulja Boy, Collective Soul, Mims and Plies.

Wolfe also recently photographed former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young for Atlanta magazine, and actress Catherine Bell for Parade magazine. During 2007 and 2008, he shot photos for the Pepsi DJ Division's ad campaigns.

While much of his work centers on the hip hop world, a Mount Vernon connection led to shooting photos for a Larry the Cable Guy calendar. Fellow 1996 MVHS grad Ken Madson, in his capacity at Parallel Entertainment in Los Angeles, which represents the comedian, helped bring them together.

As a result of his work with recording artists, Wolfe has been invited to be a voter for the Grammy Awards.

He also is sharing his talents as a teacher at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta, considered the premier art school in the Southeast.

If that's not enough, a music video Wolfe directed for the song "Glass" by the artist Pill began airing recently on MTV Jams. That's one step toward Wolfe's long-term goal of directing a feature-length documentary.

"I just started directing videos," Wolfe said, adding he is starting to write treatments - or, scripts - for other music videos. "I'd like to direct a movie someday. I love documentaries and the process. I feel like I understand the process."