Background
Jay Jaffe was born on March 8, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. His parents were Isidore and Anna Jaffee. He was raised in various Brooklyn neighborhoods, from Brownsville to East New York to Brighton Beach.
Jay Jaffe was born on March 8, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. His parents were Isidore and Anna Jaffee. He was raised in various Brooklyn neighborhoods, from Brownsville to East New York to Brighton Beach.
Jay Jaffe received no formal training in photography.
After a difficult childhood, and the death of his mother when he was 15, Jay Jaffe left school to work as a typesetter. He started using a camera in 1947 and met Sid Grossman at the Photo League in 1948 and Steichen in 1950. Jay Jaffe worked as a freelance photographer, a printing and graphic arts consultant, and also sells prints to collectors and museums. His work, in black-and-white small and medium formats, is personal and subjective. His early production is documentary in style.
Jay Jaffe died in March 1999.
Quotes from others about the person
"Photographs," he once wrote, "are born of the positives and negatives accumulated in a lifetime."
Jay Jaffe was married and had two daughters.
