Jerry Yulsman

For the Florida photographer with a phonetically similar name, see Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Yulsman (born February 8, 1924 - August 6, 1999) was an American novelist and a photographer best known for his photographs of Jack Kerouac, notably the cover illustration on Joyce Johnson's memoir Minor Characters.
Yulsman's first camera was a $13.50 Argus, given to him by his aunt as a 12th birthday present. He used it to photograph Roosevelt in a torchlit parade. "I was a good photographer," he recalled. "I understood both the language and the magic. It seemed to come naturally, like a gift from Providence."
Expelled from Simon Grantz High School, Yulsman lied about his age in March 1941 in order to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps. In the Army photography school at Denver's Lowry Field, he learned to operate a "gun camera." Serving in North Africa during World War II, he was promoted to Master Sergeant, and on August 1, 1943, he flew in Operation...