A native of Chicago, Jerry Avenaim got his start in photography assisting Patrick Demarchelier. Upon venturing out on his own in 1985, his first assignment was a foreign edition Vogue cover of (then rising star) Cindy Crawford. Basing himself out of Milan, he began to work for Italian Vogue under the direction of (editor in chief) Franca Sozzani.

While his love and flair for shooting fashion still burned in his heart, Jerry moved to Los Angeles in 1992 where he is now based. With a passion for film and theater Jerry began photographing celebrities. In the last decade Jerry's resume of celebrities and magazines reads like a who's who of Hollywood.

With the characteristic variety of mood and tone so evident in his early fashion work, Jerry Avenaim's celebrity photographs organically combine the sensitivity and vulnerability of his subjects with his ability to bring out their often uninhibited and gregarious personalities. Be it a portrait of Charlton Heston looking as though he were chiseled from stone or Angela Bassett covered in milk, these photographs will always be remembered, as the future photographs remain to be made.

As a catharsis Jerry Avenaim is also deeply inspired by what he calls his "soul cleansing" personal works. These include his book projects such as "Naked Truth" and "The Blue Roads". Taken from the foreword of Naked Truth. "It is in Jerry's work that his personality and character emerge. His images demonstrate the victory of what is seen over what is not seen. Rather, by what is said. These images, ultimately, reveal the warmth and humanity of a man whose work is his life-long passion..."

www.avenaim.com