Barbara Bordnick

Born in the Bronx, New York, the internationally renowned portrait and fashion photographer, Barbara Bordnick, began her career in Copenhagen and Paris before returning to open a studio in New York in 1969 where her photography in Harper’s Bazaar began drawing acclaim. From her fashion photography to portraits of jazz musicians, her nudes and lyrical images of flowers Bordnick’s elegant work has been exhibited and published internationally over the past 40 years. The recipient of numerous awards, and honors, she has published three books, Searchings: Secret Landscapes of Flowers, Volumes I, II and III. She served as the first woman president of American Society of Media Photographers and Advertising Photographers of America, New York. An adjunct professor in photography at Parsons, NYC, she is a much sought-after lecturer and teacher, has taught workshops internationally, and is one of the prestigious Canon Explorers of Light.

Barbara Bordnick first discovered photography in a roundabout way. "My background is in fashion and fine art," she explains. "I went to Pratt Institute, but really didn't like fashion design. However, I was on a scholarship and had to stay in the program." It was also during her college years when Bordnick got married to a very creative industrial designer. "One day in a fashion class," she recalls, "a friend and I were looking through Harper's Bazaar. We were looking at one page, saying, "how beautiful," and it occurred to me that she was talking about the clothes and I was talking about the photograph." The fashion image that the girls admired was taken by Richard Avedon, and Bordnick credits this experience as "the very first time I noticed photography." She enrolled in a very basic photography course at Pratt during her senior year, in which students learned "how to load a camera and take a light reading. It was all I knew for a very long time."

Barbara Bordnick started out studying to be a fashion designer however her instincts took her towards photography which she eventually acquiesced to while living abroad. A New York native born in the Bronx she studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After her tri-borough experience Bordnick set her sights on Europe where she and her husband went after her graduation, settling in both Copenhagen and Paris. In Europe Bordnick found that her degree in fashion design would not serve her on a practical level, she didn’t want it to, instead it would give her the foundation towards becoming an acclaimed fashion photographer - working for publications such as: The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Fortune, Vogue and Vanity Fair among others. Barbara Bordnick started out studying to be a fashion designer however her instincts took her towards photography which she eventually acquiesced to while living abroad. A New York native born in the Bronx she studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After her tri-borough experience Bordnick set her sights on Europe where she and her husband went after her graduation, settling in both Copenhagen and Paris. In Europe Bordnick found that her degree in fashion design would not serve her on a practical level, she didn’t want it to, instead it would give her the foundation towards becoming an acclaimed fashion photographer – working for publications such as: The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Fortune, Vogue and Vanity Fair among others.

After solidifying her interest in pursuing photography professionally Bordnick returned to New York and eventually opened her own studio. In New York she took on projects ranging from “America’s Great Women of Jazz,” a calendar commissioned by Polaroid that used large format Polaroid film, which had not been done before for a project of that scale. She also directed Clio-winning television commercials involving her fashion vision. In addition her image of Yip Harburg will be used to commemorate the American lyricist on a United States Postal Service commemorative stamp in 2005. More recently Bordnick has embarked on a new journey, moving away from her editorial work – trading fashion for flora. Her two recently published books: Searchings: Secret Landscapes of Flowers and the follow up Volume II have been extremely well received and rightly so. Completely immersed in her new subjects Bordnick’s images stir up thoughts of Edward Weston’s natural forms. For this project however Bordnick made the switch to digital photography - and has said that she fell in love not only with the immediacy but the quality of the images. Her Searching series has been so popular that a third volume is scheduled for release in the fall of 2005.

Almost Famous

After Bordnick graduated from Pratt, she and her husband traveled to Europe, and her husband quickly found work in Copenhagen. "It was September and it kept getting darker outside. We were living in a country where I didn't speak the language, and I was a wife with nothing to do," she recalls. Armed with some of her photographs that illustrated Haiku poetry from her senior year, she approached several photographers. "Of course, everyone was willing to see me because they thought that if you were an American photographer, you were Richard Avedon or Irving Penn," she says. Bordnick was offered a job and was sent to a Scandinavian magazine called Danske Fotomagazinet, much to her surprise. When the publication bought her images for $7 per photo, "I thought I had died and went to Heaven! To pay me and do a story about me, I couldn't believe it." Soon thereafter, she and her husband left Copenhagen and traveled to other European countries. While in Rome, Bordnick received a package from an American Express office one day. "I opened it up to find these magazines with a double-page spread that read, "Barbara Bordnick: Poetry and Photography." She adds, "I felt absolutely famous, like everybody must know who I am." She came running out and announced to her husband, "I'm going to be a photographer, because it's easy." She says that she enjoys telling this story today to students to illustrate how important it is for a young person to have an initial positive experience. Nonetheless, "It's anything but easy after that," she asserts.

Building a Career

She and her husband settled in Paris, "where I had the nerve to go to the French office of the American “Harper's Bazaar." The editor took Bordnick under her wing and introduced her to other photographers. "Quite honestly, I didn't know what I was looking for. I didn't know what a job in photography was," she remembers. They left Paris after a year and a half and came back to the U.S., where she sought work as an assistant, but found that American photographers were hesitant to hire a woman. Bordnick finally served an apprenticeship with a photographer whom she met through a former classmate. He told her that he "desperately needed an assistant, but only did editorial work and couldn't afford one." In about six months, the photographer closed his studio and left the photo industry. Faced with few options to assist or become a Girl Friday, Bordnick asked her husband to build a studio in their home, and she began shooting and building a portfolio. "When I had a book that I thought was presentable, I went to see the art directors of "Harper's Bazaar" and told them that the French editor sent me - which was sort of true." They told her to do more work and come back, and her tenacious nature paid off. "Finally one day, they called me. I started shooting for "Harper's Bazaar," and that was the beginning. As they say, the rest is history." Since then, Bordnick's extensive client list includes fiber companies such as American Viscose and DuPont, and she's photographed advertising campaigns for DeBeers, Saks Fifth Avenue, Daytons ("one of my favorite clients ever"), JC Penneys (for whom she did Clio award-winning T.V. commercials), Polaroid, IBM, Clairol, and Revlon. Her editorial work appears in magazines ranging from French "Vogue" to "Newsweek" and "Geo." She is also a member of Canon USA's prestigious "Explorers of Light."

Being Involved

In addition to her photography, Bordnick is a sought-after lecturer and teacher. "At the moment, I'm traveling a lot," she says. She's recently returned from a trip to China, where she was invited by a professional photographer's association to present awards to winners of an international photography competition, as well as giving lectures and showing her work. During this trip, she went to Bei Hei and Duyun in the southern region of China, as well as Beijing, where she met the bureau chief of Reuters. "I was one American among nine photographers from other countries," she says. Bordnick was the self-described "very controversial first woman president" of American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) in 1977, and is a lifetime member of the organization. She says that when she first joined ASMP, she hadn't attended photography school, and didn't know anyone in the photographic community. However, the organization allowed her to meet professionals in her field who have been very supportive, and eventually became her photographic family. "I've always been very active in supporting photographers' rights," she points out. She is currently a member and formerly the President of Advertising Photographers of America (APA).

Beyond the Obvious

"The interesting thing about my career is that I've been extremely fortunate," Bordnick states. "Some people have believed in me much more than I've believed in myself." She cites one experience early in her career when one company took her out to dinner several times to talk her into doing a television commercial. She says, "I didn't know a thing about film. And it wasn't just one commercial--it was a campaign. I had to be convinced to do it, but it was one of the most wonderful things "I've ever done." Polaroid also asked her to introduce the company's large-format film. They talked her into doing the 8x10 promotion, and taught her how to use the camera. She now attests, "I fell in love with the medium." This also led to a calendar project, "The Great Women of Jazz," sponsored by Polaroid. Geo magazine asked her to shoot figure skaters, another diversion from Bordnick's fashion work. "They gave me the job because they wanted to see what I would do with it, because it wasn't something that I did. I have enormous respect for these people, because they didn't go for the obvious."