Enid Farber

Jazziz, said, 'If we were to identify a JAZZIZ visual historian, her name would no doubt be Enid Farber. Her photography has taken readers on an odyssey, to experience the most adventurous music and to meet the most interesting personalities, from both the new and traditional worlds of jazz.' -20th anniversary issue of Jazziz Magazine, January 2003

Enid Farber has been photographing musicians since 1979. A 'self-taught' photographer who began documenting the world of music in Atlanta, Farber currently resides in New York City where she continues to focus primarily on recording the evolving history of the jazz and world music scene for publications and record companies. Farber has been the main New York photographer for Jazziz Magazine since 1996. Farber's work has been exhibited in several solo and group shows since moving to New York in 1985, and abroad. Farber and her work were featured in Jazztimes Magazine's December 1997 'Classic Jazz Photography' issue as one of the masters of jazz photography. She was the sole female of four names mentioned in the New York Times in May 1997 as 'one of the young generation of talented photographers documenting the current jazz scene'. Farber was nominated four times in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 by the Jazz Journalist's Association for Excellence in Jazz Photography' winning in 2002 as well as for 'Best Photo of the Year'. Farber was featured in the September 2000 issue of Photo Insider Magazine. The December 2001 issue of Jazziz Magazine featured a 12-page photo essay entitled, 'Legends Who Have Passed Thru My Lens' based on an exhibition of the work. Some of Farber's classic jazz images were selected for noted filmmaker Ken Burns' historic 20 hour documentary on jazz aired on PBS in January 2001 and companion book. In the book, Bums acknowledges Farber, the sole female amongst 14 legendary male photographers, as 'an extraordinary group of the finest jazz art photographers in the country'.

In summarizing her work, Farber said, 'The camera is my instrument. In the best way that I can, I pay tribute to the musical artist, translating my love for the sounds they create into a photographic image which enables me to relive the experience long after the event. This way I have also been allowed to participate and vicariously, I too can play the music.'