Adam Jahiel was living in Los Angeles when he learned of the French-American Expedition to the Titanic in the spring of 1987, two years after her discovery by oceanographer Robert Ballard.
Ballard had worked with the French Research Institute to Explore the Sea. That organization, which operated the Nautile, was also part of the 1987 expedition that was financed by a consortium of interests. Its successor, RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, has exclusive salvage rights to the ship. The company has brought up more than 5,500 artifacts that are on display in several Titanic exhibits around the country.
RMS Titanic Inc. is in the process of selling the artifacts, which by law must be sold in one lot and be available for viewing by the public. The pre-sale estimate of the price was $189 million.
Jahiel was a perfect fit for the French-American crew. He had spent time in France growing up and knew the language.
Jahiel attended the Florida Institute of Technology to study oceanography, including advanced diving and underwater photography.
“When I was young, my idol was Jacque Cousteau,” he said.
Jahiel also studied at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography at Santa Barbara, Calif., which has an underwater program.
A mentor at Brooks suggested that he also complete a photojournalism degree at the University of Missouri. After earning his degree there, he traveled on assignments all over the world from a base in Los Angeles.
Everything about his education made him a perfect fit when the expedition sought a still photographer to accompany the expedition that began July 22, 1987, when it sailed from the Newfoundland coast, and ended Sept. 11.
After the Titanic expedition, Jahiel focused his camera on what was left of the Old West, creating a spectacular portfolio of scenes from ranch life, mostly in Nevada. Along the way, someone told him about the Padlock Ranch in Wyoming. He visited on and off for a year, preparing a coffee-table book.
“At some point, I just fell in love with this part of the country,” he said in a telephone interview from his home in Story, Wyo. “It just felt good. It was just the whole package.”
He moved to Sheridan, Wyo., in 1992 and bought a house in Story the next year.
“I like to think it was my first house and my last house,” he said.
Jahiel is 56, married and has two teenage children.
“I still travel a lot,” he said. “But having kids certainly changed my lifestyle. I’ve really enjoyed my family and kids so much, I don’t want to miss any of it.”
Recently, he’s focused his lenses on Kyrgyzstan, which he has visited twice and is contemplating as a landscape for a photo workshop.
“Strangely enough, it reminds me of Montana and Wyoming,” he said. “It’s a horse place.”
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