PHOTO By TED ADAMS 2009

Tony Ward's photographic imagery unites his primal love, erotic art, with his perennial passions for fashion, design and portraiture. Ward began his professional career as a corporate photographer for pharmaceutical giant SMITHKLINE CORPORATION (GLAXO SMITHKLINE) in 1980. In 1984, Ward opened a large photographic studio that serviced a variety of Fortune 500 companies. He achieved global notoriety for his first published book on erotic photography, the controversial and highly praised OBSESSIONS (Editions Stemmle, Zurich, 1998). OBSESSIONS was followed by four more challenging, innovative and critically acclaimed volumes: ORGASM (Alixe, Paris, 2000), TABLEAUX VIVANTS (Stemmle,Zurich, 2002), ORGASM XL (Alixe, Paris, 2002) and BEST OF EROTICA (6 X 6.com., Berlin, 2005). Critical thinkers on photography such as A.D. Coleman, Rick Wester and Reinhold Misselbeck, have written illuminating essays that accompany these editions.
Ward's fine art is widely collected, exhibited and syndicated around the world. His search for new subjects and clients necessitates constant worldwide travel. Ward makes his home and studio in the historic heart of Philadelphia, but his unending quest for inspiring imagery and new commercial assignment opportunities compels him to divide his creative time between diverse cosmopolitan centers from Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London and Paris, with extensive layovers in Hamburg and Amsterdam.
Ward's graphic mediations on his favorite themes, fashion, portraiture and the use of sex in media, are both groundbreaking and accessible. Editorials about TW and his work have been published in numerous international popular culture magazines, books and television, such as STERN, MAX,PLAYBOY TV, PENTHOUSE, RTL TV GERMANY, TVA TELEVISION AMSTERDAM, GQ, PARK AVENUE, LOADED, VIBE, MEN'S HEALTH as well as avant-garde Dutch magazines, BLEND, BLVD and LINK. He also shoots fashion for NEIMAN MARCUS.