During Jay's career he has covered a wide range of subjects and people. He has spent time with Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and President Clinton. On the other end of the spectrum he has worked on projects about hunger, homelessness, AIDS, and other issues about the less fortunate. In November, 1979,Jay and fellow journalist Joel Brinkley, traveled to the Thailand-Cambodia border to document the massive exodus of Cambodian refugees fleeing the wrath of the Khmer Rouge regime. This was the beginning of what the world would come to know as the "Killing Fields." Their stories and photographs, a five-day series published in theLouisville Courier-Journal,were awarded the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
Jay has a deep love and respect for the environment. He has hiked and climbed while photographing throughout the western United States for projects on Yosemite National Park, the Desert Protection Act in California, the declining health of the Sierra mountain range, and the ongoing drought in the Colorado River Basin. His book, "Yosemite, A Landscape of Life," was published by the Yosemite Association in 1990 for the centennial celebration of the park. Jay's other passion is the art of ballet. Since 1996 he has volunteered his time and talent to photograph all of the Sacramento Ballet productions. In May, 2007 he traveled with the company to Beijing and Shanghai, China on it's first international tour and published a book, "China En Pointe," to document the dancers experiences.
