CONTACT

Jacob Blickenstaff
917-554-1710
jacob@33-13.com

BIO

Photographer/Musician Jacob Blickenstaff has a unique capacity to perceive and interpret the essential energy of music and retransmit it in visual form, exploring layers of the musical experience that are difficult to articulate.

20-plus years into an multi-faceted career photographing music, he’s contributed images to over 50 album projects including notable covers for Natalie Merchant, Makaya McCraven, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, The Cactus Blossoms and John Pizzarelli. In the 2010s, he photographed numerous culture assignments for The New York Times, visually complimenting the writing of leading cultural critics. His photo essays have been published in The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone and Mother Jones, and in 2009 the Stax Museum of American Soul Music presented his first solo exhibition Still Life In Soul.

A life-long musician (bass guitar, double bass) he’s a voracious student of music history and at ease connecting with artists in the worlds of rock, soul, blues, country, jazz, classical and world musics, moving fluidly between his own photo studio to the club, concert hall, green room, recording studio, tour bus—sacred spaces where the brief magical things happen. 

In 2024, Jacob launched That Million Dollar Bash, an intimate photo essay-driven Substack that chronicles his encounters with a broad spectrum of today’s musical luminaries. He lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, June, and maintains a photo studio in Vinegar Hill, home to many film and digital cameras, lights, backdrops, basses, records, vintage hi-fi components and a Nespresso machine.

CLIENTS

International Anthem
Nonesuch
Daptone
Concord (Fantasy, Prestige, Concord Jazz)
New West

Yamaha
Billy Reid

The New York Times
Mother Jones
Rolling Stone