Arnold Kastenbaum is a friend from college; he was a terrific B&W photographer already, when we met as freshman. He was a city boy, and I recall thinking how sophisticated his photos were compared to my slices of subruban life. His prints were great then too. He’s grown as a photographer, and is a dedicated silver-image B&W worker.

And his printing is even more spectacular than ever.

Arnie recently became a full member of NYC’s Soho Photo gallery and will be showing work there in 2008. He’s won numerous awards in juried competitions.

See more of his work at: www.akastenbaum.com and www.groundglassphoto.org

We became reaquainted a few years ago when my midtown gym had a show of his work . I was stunned by the beauty of his prints. We exchanged emails.

More recently I started chatting with a fellow holding a Mamiya 7II, at the Museum of Modern Art. I was asking how he liked the big rangefinder when I realized I was talking to Arnie. We were both there to catch last day of the big Jeff Wall show of monster-sized color transparencies. When I started this Web site, Arnie was one of the first photographers I thought of. I hope you like his work.

(More work, and his discussion of his approach, is below.)

    (All photographs Copyright Arnold Kastenbaum, and are not to be reproduced without written permission from the photographer.)

Met Ceiling

Arnold Kastenbaum

Met Staircase

Arnold Kastenbaum

Girdwood Neon

Arnold Kastenbaum

Lit Bulb

Arnold Kastenbaum

Light at Middlebury College

Arnold Kastenbaum

Arnold Kastenbaum discusses the images above:

In my work, no attempt is made to depict an object as it naturally appears. The goal is to create a new object that did not exist before. The photograph itself becomes the object without regard to the subject matter.

With this in mind, I utilize the unique characteristics of the medium to portray commonplace objects and show the viewer an alternative representation of the object. Often an attempt is made to show an overlooked or underlying esthetic that exists in the mundane, be it a light bulb or a doorknob or some other simple thing. At times this results in a momentary surprise, leaving the viewer to question what the object is or how its image was produced.

For example, people often ask if  “Light at Middlebury College” is a photograph of an eclipse when in fact is just a light fixture. No tricks, just a straight-on shot of an opaque fixture on a white wall.  However, due the limits of light registry on film, with the correct exposure I can turn the wall black and produce the gradient that radiates from the light creating an image that was not apparent when viewing the object itself. (Mamiya 7II, TMax 100).

Similarly, in “Lit Bulb” a white wall also becomes black. Exposure is made for the wall behind the bulb to be middle gray and significant burning is needed to show the bulb filament. Like “Light at Middlebury College” the white wall turns black and an image is created that I think shows an impressionistic representation of the original object. (Rollei 6003, TMax 100).

“Met Staircase” demonstrates a very different paradox.  Escher-like, the angles and shadows force the viewer to try to make sense of the image. I particularly like how at times the large center column appears as one large column and at other times as two parallel slabs.  (Leica M6, Tri-X).

“Met Ceiling” is actually a section of the ceiling seen on the right side of “Met Staircase.”  Viewers often ask what the camera was pointed at, and of course I tell them it’s just a ceiling at the Met. I am particularly fond of the multiple gradients seen in this image.  (Mamiya 7II, Delta 100).

Maybe the most straightforward of these images is “Girdwood Neon,” which is a very direct image of a large wall-art piece in a hotel in Girdwood, Alaska. I could not resist the multi-angled perforated metal and neon tube sculpture, and knew immediately that it would translate wonderfully in a black-and-white image. Of all of my images this may the least impressionistic and the one where the image most represents the object photographed. (Mamiya 7II, HP 5+).

--Arnold Kastenbaum