If luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, then Andy Katz is living proof. Katz was what he calls a young “starving photographer” living in Boulder, Colorado, when he initiated a connection that altered the course of his life. He and his wife wanted dinner reservations at the top restaurant in Boulder for their anniversary. Since money was tight, Katz approached the restaurant owner about making a trade: one of his print photographs for a free meal. To Katz’s delight, the owner agreed. Not only that, he was so impressed with Katz’s portfolio that he commissioned him to make landscape photographs of the Napa and Sonoma valleys for the walls of his new restaurant in Vail, Colorado.
As a result of that project, Katz made contacts in the California wine country. Two different winery owners commissioned him to create photo books to market their wines. “I fell in love with wine country,” he says, so much so that—decades later—he helped his winemaker son Jesse open his own winery, called Aperture. “And I have now done eight books on wine,” including one for famed vintner Robert Mondavi, he says. “It’s funny, in life, the little things that you think are insignificant become really such an important part of [your journey].”
FOLLOWING HIS GUT
There was never a question about Katz’s photographic calling. When he was 8, his father brought home a photo book featuring the work of Yousuf Karsh, a gorgeous collection of 8x10s that “looked like it was printed with black dust,” Katz says. “That was it. That was all she wrote.”
After high school, Katz studied photography at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles. When he was 20, a wealthy donor sponsored him to take a year-long, around-the-world trip photographing the world’s children. “That really kind of changed my life,” Katz says. “I fell in love with traveling.” His budget for the trip was minuscule; he jokes that in Indonesia, he once switched from a $3 hotel room to a $2 room to save funds. But to this day, he’s proud of the work he created on that journey. When he began exhibiting those photos at gallery shows, opportunity struck again when they caught the eye of musician Dan Fogelberg.
Fogelberg asked to meet with Katz, and the two started collaborating. Katz photographed seven of Fogelberg’s album covers, which led to work with other musicians including The Doobie Brothers. Encouraged, Katz moved from Boulder, where he’d been working on commercial photography, to Los Angeles to make a career out of album cover photography. But, he recalls, “after a year, when I had to sign a contract for renewing my studio in LA, I thought, You know, I’m going to move back to Boulder. This LA thing is not for me. I just like the country a little bit too much.” Back in Boulder, as Katz started landing book deals with California wineries, he began making the income he desired. “That was pretty lucrative,” he says, “and when you put the words ‘lucrative’ and ‘photography’ together, that is a good thing because that doesn’t happen often.”
WANDERLUST WINS
When Katz does a book for a winery, he also acts as the production house by hiring book designers, collaborating with writers, and organizing the printing. That experience has helped him to create his own photography books. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Katz began to cull images for a collection of his best travel photography from over the last 50 years for a book. “Day one was fine. Day two was fine. Day three was like, Boy, I’m not sure,” he recalls about the process. “Day four I decided, I am going to buy a camper van and go to all the national parks,” he laughs. Instead of a retrospective, Katz set out to create new work for a book featuring every national park.
“I learned that this country is magnificent,” he says of his three-year van journey across the United States to capture those images. “I’ve spent most of my time traveling internationally, to be honest. I didn’t spend that much time in this country, which is kind of silly. I found the beauty of America to be as stunning as any other place on earth. It’s just a gorgeous country that we live in.”
From the start, he says, he knew he didn’t want his photo book to resemble a guidebook, so he didn’t set out to capture the most iconic, highly photographed spots. Some did make it into the book if they inspired him, though, he added. “I would go into a park and would photograph what I thought was beautiful in the national park,” he says. “It could be a leaf, it could be a rock, but if it was from that park, I could use it.”
When it came time to put the book, “A Walk in the Park,” together, Katz’s connections paid off. Katz had worked with John Kosh, designer of such famous album covers as The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” when he was photographing for albums. Kosh called Katz one day to say he'd uncovered some of Katz’s work while moving out of his Los Angeles studio.
Katz told Kosh he was working on a photo book featuring national parks. The designer asked him to email a few photos. “Five minutes later [Kosh] calls and says, ‘Andy, who’s designing your book?’ And I said, ‘You are.’” Katz was joking; he knew he couldn’t afford this Grammy Award-winning album designer for his book. But to his amazement, Katz recalls, Kosh said, “Andy, I’m 78 years old, and I can do whatever I want, and I want to do your book.” Once again, preparation met opportunity for Katz, who laughed and said, “You’re hired.”
Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.
