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lifes. Veteran photography agent Ralph Mennemeyer, who
eventually represented her for 15 years, remembers meeting
Risher for the first time. “Jenny was always unfailingly polite
but persistent,” he explains. “And she was clever enough to ask
me to look at her portfolio because she wanted my advice. Most
photographers just want you to look at their work. They rarely
ask for advice. Even more amazingly, she took my advice on
improving her photography and portfolio presentation and re-
turned several more times with changes. That never happens
in this business. I was impressed with both her attitude and
her work and felt she had what it takes to make it in this highly
competitive field. And I was right.”
Risher kept busy shooting in New York City and the work
continued to roll in. She recalls the day she walked through
Times Square, looked up and saw photos she had done forFord’s “Warriors in Pink” campaign displayed on seven mas-
sive billboards. ‘Everywhere I looked, I saw my pictures,” she
says. “It was a magical experience.”Persistence pays
She continued taking on lucrative work but began to feel some-
thing was missing. “I was photographing shoes and purses all
day and paying my mortgage. The money was good, but I felt that
this was not why I had gotten into photography in the first place.
I looked at all the commercial work I’d done over the last decade
or so and I decided I didn’t want that to be my legacy. I wanted to
have fun, to be creative, to stretch myself. I needed a change.”
In 2010, after talking with friends about the bad rap Detroit
had been getting in the national press, she began thinking about
doing a series of portraits of famous Detroiters. ➔