August 2024 - DGPh Photo Book Review
Portrait of a journey around the world
New York-based photographer David Katzenstein sees himself as a visual chronicler of humanity: he has been on the road for decades, always with his camera. In 49 years he has traveled to 37 countries and portrayed people, peoples and cultures. What began as a happy coincidence, combining his passions - photography and travel - developed over time into a comprehensive picture of humanity. In the tradition of documentary photography, Katzenstein places value on immediacy, emotional involvement and respect.
The bibliophile publication "Distant Journeys", published by Hirmer Verlag, Munich, presents Katzenstein's aesthetic black-and-white photographs, mostly borderless and double-sided in the oversized format 33x50 centimetres, taken on his many travels over the years. These allow the viewer to participate directly in public and private moments: unique photographs that tell stories and sharpen the senses. His large-format landscape photographs seem like a meditative journey through the eyes. The writer Susanna Moore also addresses the intensity of his images in her introductory text and invites you to discover and reflect.
The photographer uses bizarre everyday scenes to tell stories. Every wrinkle, every crease on the face of the person portrayed tells life stories that have left clear traces. Still lifes with barbed wire, torn and porous sheets on the clothesline, people at work - some pictures are thought-provoking, others are bursting with joie de vivre - an illustrated storybook that is always new and different every time you leaf through it, as the focus on the details in the photo is constantly re-orientated. Some are also provided with short quotes from texts by the writer Paul Bowles (1910 - 1999).
With the selection made in the large-format volume, the photographer invites readers on an impressive journey around the globe. All photographs are listed again in small print at the end of the book, with the location and year of the shot.
David Katzenstein is a master at capturing fleeting moments and allows viewers of his photos in "Distant Journeys" to not only follow him on his journeys in their minds, but also to experience his emotions and impressions. (vZ)
Click To View More