I met Johnny Ace through the store and knew him for a few months before I found out that he was a long time and well respected blues bassist. Not one to talk himself up it took another couple months for me to find out that he was also an accomplished photographer.

As a photographer he's most well known for his beautiful set documenting what would become his friend blues legend John Lee Hooker's last ever studio session. But as Shaun and I were to learn his history as a photographer goes much deeper than just that session.

This piece is taken from a conversation that we had with Johnny in his apartment in downtown San Francisco. We covered many topics but here Shaun and I have focused on a portion of the conversation in which Johnny talks about and shows us a collection of his photos that he envisions as a book called 'Is This Man Jesus? - The Photography of Johnny Ace'. The photos span three decades and take us all over the United States giving us a glimpse into the lives of those people who his wife and fellow band member Cathy Lemons calls "the lost and forgotten, the belied and the beaten."