Exposed: ‘Tomorrow’s Sky: Photographs By Neal Casal’
Neal Casal was not only a gifted musician, but he was also a prolific photographer. The singer/ songwriter/guitarist carried his camera with him around the globe while touring and traveling, shooting tens of thousands of images. One of Casal’s final wishes, before he took his own life in August 2019, was for a book to be created from those photos. The result is Tomorrow’s Sky: Photographs by Neal Casal, a project led by Jay Blakesberg, who notes, “Neal was a stealth photographer who always carried his camera and documented the various people, places and scenes that passed before him. The photos are intimate, beautiful and from the hip. Nothing is set up; it is real life, in real time.”
Casal’s longtime friend and manager Gary Waldman, adds, “When Neal made his first batch of song demos and started to pursue his career as a solo artist in 1991, we would drive around the wooded backroads of North Jersey with a photographer friend of ours, just looking for beautiful spots to take photos of Neal. We called this his ‘John Denver phase,’ but we never loved the results we got from those photo shoots. Finally, one day, I just decided to buy our own camera so that we could do it exactly the way we wanted. It was a Yashica 35mm film camera, and I learned enough basics for us to take our time and shoot as much as possible at our favorite spots. We finally achieved a few John Denver-worthy photos after lots of trial and error, and we did use a few of those in some of the early promo packages we sent around to record labels and publishers. Even at that point, Neal had a great eye for photos and was much more interested in photography than I was. I gave the camera to him and he started to take photos wherever he went. But it wasn’t until the following year—when Neal met Christy Coleman—that he was really inspired to pursue photography as an integral part of his life.”
Proceeds from the sale of Tomorrow’s Sky will benefit the Neal Casal Music Foundation. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit explains that it will “provide music instruments and lessons to students in state schools in New Jersey and New York, where Casal was born and raised. [They] will also donate a large portion of the proceeds to MusiCares, Backline, and other mental health organizations for musicians.” More information is available at nealcasalmusicfoundation.org.
Neal Casal’s photographs are featured in the new Relix Art Gallery. Click here to browse and shop prints.
