photo: A.T. Willlet and Jeff Smith
Photographer: Tom Willett
Years Downtown: 12
Specialty: “Just about anything”
Favorite Subject: People
A.T. (Tom) Willett “lives the life he loves and loves the life he lives,” to borrow his motto. Willett has been a professional photographer for over half his life and a Tucson resident since he was 8, when his family moved here in 1971. At 17, he finagled a staff photographer job at the Tucson Citizen. His path has led him to NYC and back again, pursuing his passions the whole way.
After three years at the paper, Willett wanted to get his foot in fashion industry door. He moved to New York. “I did it the way you do things when you’re a kid; it’s just, ‘I’m gonna do this,’ and you’re gone,” Willett chuckled over a recent lunch at Time Market. During that spell in mid-80s New York, he captured some indelible scenes (a candid of “vatos” in front of a street mural; an aerial of marathoners crossing the Verrazano Bridge) and made some valuable connections. After about a year, though, he decided to come back to Tucson. “People here really go out of their way to help you.”
One New York lead came to fruition in the form of a contract offer from Image Bank, an international photo agency. He was 22 and the youngest person on their roster at the time. That gig lasted for 15 years, when Getty Images took over and Willett decided to go freelance.
There’s no shortage of inspiration in Tucson for Willett. Since the early 90s, he’s done severe weather photography; in 2007, Willett and fellow Tucson photographer Jeff Smith exhibited their tornado and lightning photographs at Etherton Gallery in their show Out of a Clear Blue Sky. The two recently teamed up again for the Museum of Contemporary Art’s gala, where Willett shot over 2,000 pictures.
Willett’s Tucson appreciation runs deep; he had an online magazine, Virtual Tucson, for seven years which he’s taken down for revamping. He also has “tons of ideas for an arts district downtown” which would be aesthetically inviting and physically accessible for more people.
“I have to have a balance between doing stuff that’s important and doing stuff to pay the bills,” said Willett of his many interests.
A new passion is a video project examining the question Where does love come from?
“I started it for an Amy Rude show but realized when I began interviewing people that there are countless answers and fascinating stories around that question.” n
Catch up with all of Willett’s passions at ATWillett.com.
