Born in New York City , in 1975 Richard Avedon, hired him as a photographers assistant. In 1979 Jesse opened his own studio in NYC. He worked as a photographer in New York City, Paris and London until 1991. He has several published book credits edited by John Loring for Tiffany&Co. He traveled and photographed in Egypt; France, Italy, Japan,Mexico, Greece and the USA.

His photographic subjects include Dance,Landscapes,Portraits,Travel, Florals, Interiors and commercial work for all major magazines and advetisers.

He was a very close personal friend of Jerome Robbins, Artistic Director of the New York City Ballet Company. In the late 1980's Jesse created a spectacular series of black and white photographs, Backstage at the New York City Ballet, capturing a world few have ever seen. Jesse was the last of Robbins's live-in male lovers.