13 Facts About Bill Jay

William Jay was a photographer, writer on and advocate of photography, curator, magazine and picture editor, lecturer, public speaker and mentor.

Bill Jay was the first editor of "the immensely influential magazine" Creative Camera ; and founder and editor of Album.

Bill Jay is the author of more than 20 books on the history and criticism of photography, and roughly 400 essays, lectures and articles.

Bill Jay is known for his portrait photographs of photographers.

Bill Jay was born in Maidenhead, England, on 12 August 1940.

Bill Jay was editor of the hobbyist Camera Owner which he transformed into "the immensely influential magazine" Creative Camera ; and founder and editor of Album, for all twelve issues.

Bill Jay was the first Director of Photography at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, in 1970 and founded and directed the Photo Study Centre there.

Bill Jay joined the Royal Photographic Society in February 1972 and was visiting speaker and arranger of talks at the Society, as well as for local camera clubs and polytechnics throughout the UK.

Bill Jay graduated with an MA on the Victorian landscape photographer Francis Bedford.

Bill Jay gave hundreds of lectures on photography as a guest at colleges, universities, art schools and camera clubs in Britain, Europe and the United States.

Bill Jay was twice married and divorced, and had three daughters, Juliet, Louise and Hannah.

Bill Jay retired in the late 1990s, leaving Mesa, Arizona, for Ocean Beach near San Diego, then to Samara on the Nicoya peninsula, Costa Rica, in 2008.

Bill Jay's archive is held at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.