To become a self-made sports photographer and travel the world, Lynn University alumnus Justin Cohen ’06 used his talent, passion and connections to make his dreams a reality. Cohen developed a passion for photography as an eight-year-old when his parents gifted him his first camera. Cohen always carried a camera growing up to nurture his love for photography. Cohen admits he was “that annoying friend” taking photos of every moment … 30 years later, the art of photography has given him a career and many fond memories along the way.

Cohen hails from Cincinnati, Ohio. He traded the Midwest for South Florida and took advantage of Lynn’s personalized campus experience, smaller class sizes and the chance to compete on the men’s tennis team, where he finished as runner-up in the 2006 NCAA Division II National Team Championship. While studying communications at Lynn, Cohen served as the sports editor for iPulse—Lynn’s student-run publication—and worked as a student ambassador.

Cohen leveraged his education at Lynn and held various jobs after college—starting in sales and then working with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in Princeton, New Jersey as the director of events and championships, overseeing all college tennis tournaments and events. Afterward, Cohen moved on to pursue a career as a full-time sports photographer.

Thanks to a well-placed connection, Cohen was credentialed to cover the US Open Tennis Championships, allowing him to build his portfolio as a professional sports photographer. Around the same time, his brother connected him with the Indiana Hoosiers football and basketball programs, where he strengthened his portfolio with images from various Big Ten Conference games. Cohen leveraged this experience to promote his photography to various teams and tournaments—landing gigs with SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12 football and basketball programs, as well as ATP and WTA tennis tournaments.

Cohen fulfilled his childhood dream of covering the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena where he served as the staff photographer for the 2018 Rose Bowl Game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Oklahoma Sooners, a College Football Playoff Semifinals game. The job was a dream come true.

“When I got my first camera, I told my parents I wanted to photograph the Rose Bowl Game,” said Cohen. “I was not just one of the many photographers covering the game; I was the staff photographer for the actual game!”

Cohen has covered events at many historic sporting venues, including the Rose Bowl Stadium, Madison Square Garden, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Pinehurst No. 2, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the United Center. Just this past year, his coverage included serving as a photographer for the United States Naval Academy in the 123rd Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia, the national champion Georgia Bulldogs, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, an ATP tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, the NASCAR All-Star Race, a WNBA game in Dallas, an LPGA event in Florida, the Sun Bowl in El Paso, the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana, and a private photo shoot with golf legend Annika Sorenstam. In addition, one of Justin’s photos was selected as the cover photo for an upcoming book about Roger Federer.

Anthony Vaccarello is a Madonna stan. Having previously used the House of Saint Laurent to honor the 30th anniversary of the boundary-pushing 1992 photography book SEX — which saw Madonna captured by Steven Meisel‘s lens for a series of controversial images — the designer now sees continued support from the auction house Christie’s in “Madonna x Meisel – The SEX Photographs.”

The auction presents more than 40 one-off editions of the Meisel photographs, notably one titled Madonna, New York, 1992, archival pigment print, depicting the musician with her head in her hands while sitting in front of a bending male model. It is estimated to sell for $150,000-$250,000 USD, however, it wouldn’t be too forward to expect the editions to fetch even more.

Speaking on the project, Darius Himes, Christie’s Deputy Chairman, International Head of Photographs, said:

“The much-deserved hype and white-hot energy given off by Madonna in the early 1990s was conveyed and immortalized through Steven Meisel’s photographs. He knew how to capture the allure and sexuality of pop’s reigning queen in a way that was unrivaled. In the intervening 30 years since her infamous SEX book was released — shot exclusively in collaboration with Meisel — what has become clear is how truly iconic those photographs remain. They sit at a moment in art history of the late 20th century that both summarizes a moment, playful and prescient, and hints at the future of public stardom driven by image-conscious figures. These images are nothing short of brilliant.”

Ahead of the auction, which commences on October 6 at 2 p.m. EDT via Christie’s, the “Madonna x Meisel – The SEX Photographs” sale will be touring the world. You’ll find the photographs at Christie’s London from May 23-June 2, at Christie’s Paris from June 27-July 6, and finally at Christie’s New York from September 30-October 6, which is where the sale will also take place live.

Elsewhere, a petition against the use of AI in the art world has been opened.

In front of the camera, you’ll see Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry splashing a look-away 3-pointer, Andrew Wiggins posterizing a defender or Jordan Poole flashing his handles. Behind the camera, you’ll find Jordan Jimenez, a 25-year-old freelance photographer who utilized the art form to beat back depression.

“The fact that my camera has allowed me to be in all of these different places and be around these incredible people, that’s been amazing,” Jimenez said. “It’s crazy just how many doors photography opened for me.”

Rewinding to the mid-2010s, Jimenez was in a much different headspace. The San Francisco native’s grandmother had died, his parents were going through a divorce, and he was feeling the pressure of locking down scholarships to pay for school.

“It kind of just takes you to a dark place when you see so many different things going on,” Jimenez said. “Definitely a rough time for me, just wasn’t seeing life in the right way. Didn’t really want to be here, to be honest.”

Jimenez had always loved the game of basketball, but his hooping days had come to an end. He knew he needed to find a new outlet in life.

“For me at that time, I was going through a depression that had lasted maybe six, seven years,” he said. “For me as a [high school] senior, I decided, ‘OK, I need to do something new.’ I love basketball, but obviously I’m not playing at the time. I just figured I needed something completely different, completely new and something to change my life and the way that I see life. For whatever reason, I was drawn to the camera.”

Picking up a camera changed everything. Walking around San Francisco and snapping photos, Jimenez came to learn the ins and outs of photography, all the while chipping away at his depression.

“Fast forward all the way to 2023, it was just throughout that time I combined my love for basketball and my newfound love for photography as a way to combat my depression and just see life in a different way,” he said.

Shifting his perspective is what helped make the difference, he said.

“Being able to see that there’s so many beautiful things in this life, whether that’s the places that you go to, the people that you meet, just every experience in life, there’s something beautiful about it,” he said. “You just kind of have to look for it.”

Jimenez knew he wanted his career to somehow feature basketball and his beloved Warriors, especially after spending his childhood cheering on the Dubs at Oracle Arena, the team’s former home, famous for its spirited and deafening atmosphere.

“For me it was just always a dream just because of the energy behind it,” he said. “Obviously the Warriors weren’t very good at the time, but there was just something about it and just the energy, being in Oracle, just being around basketball.”

These days, Jimenez can be found inside Chase Center, Golden State’s new home, and other NBA arenas, capturing the Warriors’ iconic moments as a freelancer. Being able to photograph the team has been a welcome surprise, one that Jimenez doesn’t take for granted.

“For me to now work so closely with the Warriors and some of the players on the team has been a dream come true,” he said.

While he’s riding high, Jimenez admitted that his depression never fully goes away. But he has the tools now to fight back.

“Being able to know how to manage those feelings when they come up and kind of switch perspective and realize there’s a lot of beautiful things going on,” he said.

He encourages everyone do pursue their passions and never stop chasing their dreams, no matter how wild they may seem.

“Life is such a short thing,” he said. “There’s not really time to waste time. For me, I just want people to be able to see how much is possible if you really commit to it.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

For the first time in Japan, lawmakers are moving to criminalise “sneak photography”, or sexual photos taken without consent in public places, a recurrent problem in public transportation which mainly targets young women. The law is a move in the right direction, our Observer says, though Japan still has plenty of room for improvement, particularly when it comes to sexual education.

Thousands of New Yorkers deal with mental health struggles every day. 

For Richard Colón, photography has been a step in the right direction. 

“A lot of times, when I’m actually shooting out here, it’s usually just to unwind after a long day,” Colón said. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he was a teacher for nearly two decades. He only left the industry to take care of his mental health. Now, he works at the University of Rochester as a college counselor by day and a street photographer by night. 

“It’s actually great to just de-stress and just get great shots of Rochester,” Colón said. “I had a big pride issue because I’m a man and I don’t like asking for help. So that was one of the big things that was starting me from that trying to actually want me to get mental health support because I felt like I didn’t need it.” 

Since leaving his teaching career, he’s lost three of his former students to gun violence. The latest was Rochester’s first homicide victim of 2023, Sideic Robinson, who was killed leaving his shift at Burger King on Lyell Avenue in January. 

“It’s hard because it messes with your mental health because you obviously think, ’Wow I could have done more, probably could do this or that.’ And it’s tough.” 

Colón says he often wonders what if he stayed in touch with his former students more. 

“As a teacher, you lose a lot of different touch with students after they graduate and they move on to other grades,” he said. “Or maybe you move to a different building or whatnot.” 

That’s why he takes his experience with mental health to work with him. He educates his current students on the resources available to them. 

“I always tell them to make sure they make connections to the people that are important to your life so that if they’re going through something, they can confide in them and hopefully utilize them so they don’t go through something that’s traumatic on their own,” Colón said. 

Colón says he offers his wisdom, a shoulder to cry on and anything else he can to relate to students struggling. 

“I tell them how photography helped me, but photography may not help everybody.” 

Colón explains photography helped him and hopes something can help everyone he comes in contact with in the future. 

“Somebody like me or somebody that they’re close to, that they may look up to for support or whatnot,” Colón said. “There’s not always going to be there.” 

Colón’s photography is exhibited every first Friday of the month at his gallery, Behind the Glass, at Mercantile on Main in Rochester. He’s always looking for new local artists to collaborate with to show how the arts can have an impact on the community.