January 2026 - Lenscratch
January 11, 2026
By Michael Honegger
David Katzenstein: Brownie
My initial view of David Katzenstein's monograph, Brownie, generated a feeling of nostalgia as it brought back memories of the delight I experienced with my own Brownie Holiday camera in my youth. But Katzenstein’s ten-year series of journeys (from 1979-1989) with his Kodak Duoflex camera resulted in very different images than those simple snapshots that I had created. With his wanderings at home and throughout the world Katzenstein has used the Duoflex camera as a paintbrush to color both the exotic and the mundane. And color is the operative word in viewing these rich and sensuous images that pull the viewer into a vivid world that is not always clearly decipherable due to the idiosyncrasies of the camera. What often results is a bold palette that leaves the viewer with questions that remain unanswered. At other times, there is a contemporary boldness that defies the era in which the images were created...
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