JoAnne Kalish employs the production values of fine Madison Avenue photography to express a vision that comes straight from her own heart…or maybe libido. Sensuality is the topic that has engaged her for some time. “I find it a never-ending theme to be explored,” she says.

“I like to work with models and everyday people placing them in creative relaxation. A man unzipping his jeans, a woman’s fanny in soft-focus pastel posed beside a ripe pear, bring out the sensuous form in both. A bare-breasted woman draped in red running. I find adding movement to my work adds another dimension that I love. In the end the final collaboration with my subjects and where we take an idea, is what I enjoy best. I am now working on creating more of a voice in my photography as a woman,” says Kalish. “I trust my passion for my work.”

Kalish’s artistic touch was recognized by New York Times critic Helen Harrison during her last gallery show at the Artist’s Forum. “Her luscious studies of fruit are particularly effective, especially in their lighting, which emphasizes the sensuous qualities of color and form,” wrote Harrison.

That passion was born at age 18, when Kalish picked up her first camera. She became one of the first women to shoot stories for “Sports Illustrated”: ice hockey, football, women’s basketball and Grand Prix auto racing kept her traveling and shooting around the country. She was hired by the International Olympic Committee to provide photographic coverage of the 1984 Olympic Games.

Having sold pictures to most major international publications (her pictures are published in 20 to 30 countries during any given month), Kalish turned her attention to advertising work and personal projects, including the current sensuality series. Her areas of visual interest include still life, portraiture, travel, lifestyle, fitness and underwater photography. In the advertising realm, she had picked up numerous awards, receiving international acclaim for her Claritin and Sports Authority ad campaigns.

As a host, Kalish traveled with actor Peter Strauss into the jungles of Panama to film an episode of ESPN’s “Canon Photo Safari.” She has led “American Photo/Popular Photography Magazine’s” Mentor Series Workshops, was invited to create a seminar on Sensuality and Beauty at the Palm Beach Workshop, and teams up with Joe DiMaggio to teach the DiMaggio/Kalish International Photo Workshops. To learn more about JoAnne’s teaching schedule go to http://www.dimaggio-kalishworkshops.com – JoAnne’s limited edition photographs and posters are available in galleries and on her website at - http://www.dimaggio-kalishfineart.com

She is an associate producer on a recent Discovery Channel special for “Shark Week 2005”– called “The Last Shark Hunter.”