In 1988 I stole an invitation to an exhibit off the wall of the Penn State University Photo Lab. It was a photo that looked like a Sears Photo Studio portrait, but it was done in the subject's home. I think it was of a kid with some trophies, and then there was another shot of a tall, skinny, Native American man, posed shirtless with a gun, in front a a backdrop. Again...it looked like a Sears photo, but had the feeling that the photographer dragged in his gear, set up a backdrop in the subject's kitchen, but then somehow made a truly powerfull photograph. Bill Owens meets Sears Portrait Studio meets Richard Avedon, but the vision was all this photographer's own. I hung that card in every apartment I had after that time, but there was no internet, I didn't know anything about the photographer, just his name: Leon Borensztein. The card was an invitation to an exhibit titled
Leon Borensztein: October 11-November 7, 1984, Blue Sky Gallery. This blue photo, below, is a bad reproduction of one of the shots, I just found on the web:
Years later I met a photo dealer in Berkeley, California. She took a look at my work, told me it was essentially not sellable, but then we got into pouring over the prints of that photographer, Leon Borensztein. She pulled out a copy of LIFE magazine that had a giant photo essay Leon did on his daughter. It was like Eugene Smith but way more intimate. I went home, Googled him, and came up with next to nothing.
Then 2005 brought the publication of the book
One is Adam, One is Superman: The Artists of Creative Growth by Leon Borensztein. Here Borenszstein creates portraits of artists with emotional, physical and developmental disabilities with their art...but with the same vision ( and maybe even the same backdrop) as the images I saw back in the 80's. The work still looks contemporary and still is as strong as ever. A friend was trying to describe it to me and said " It's got the look and structure of Roger Ballen's work, but it is so very human and so very empathetic. "
All photos by Leon Borensztein
The guy who handles everything once it leaves the camera and makes it look so good is Adam, the guy behind Sugar Digital.
The time has come that any photographer who is claiming to take this photo thing seriously should most certainly have written his own Manifesto. What is a Manifesto? It is a statement of your beliefs, the path you walk, the rules you follow. Photographer Brad Troemel of Aurora, Illinois, born in 1987 has the most fascinating autobiographical website...it's like his life and personality all there, with enough projects and images to fill the Guggenheim. Looking at his work I picture him drinking in all his influences and just vomiting out photography in the best way, and totally fearless. And, of course, he's got a Manifesto titled "Thoughts On Photography". 
It starts off:
He continues: 
all photographs by Brad Troemel
In 1988 I stole an invitation to an exhibit off the wall of the Penn State University Photo Lab. It was a photo that looked like a Sears Photo Studio portrait, but it was done in the subject's home. I think it was of a kid with some trophies, and then there was another shot of a tall, skinny, Native American man, posed shirtless with a gun, in front a a backdrop. Again...it looked like a Sears photo, but had the feeling that the photographer dragged in his gear, set up a backdrop in the subject's kitchen, but then somehow made a truly powerfull photograph. Bill Owens meets Sears Portrait Studio meets Richard Avedon, but the vision was all this photographer's own. I hung that card in every apartment I had after that time, but there was no internet, I didn't know anything about the photographer, just his name: Leon Borensztein. The card was an invitation to an exhibit titled Leon Borensztein: October 11-November 7, 1984, Blue Sky Gallery. This blue photo, below, is a bad reproduction of one of the shots, I just found on the web:
Years later I met a photo dealer in Berkeley, California. She took a look at my work, told me it was essentially not sellable, but then we got into pouring over the prints of that photographer, Leon Borensztein. She pulled out a copy of LIFE magazine that had a giant photo essay Leon did on his daughter. It was like Eugene Smith but way more intimate. I went home, Googled him, and came up with next to nothing.
All photos by Leon Borensztein
It always feels good to have an editor choose one of your most odd-ball images to illustrate their story. You just never know how someone is going to respond to something. I think I can predict it...but never really can. This shot of a man in a pig suit seemed like a totally dada-ist effort when we shot it back in October for the series "The Last Mascot". Character actor Alan Dale showed up at the shoot, cup of warm tea in hand, and jumped into the pig suit like he had done it a thousand times. And then...he just stared back at me with all of this disturbed dignity...all I had to do was push the button.
There is no question in my mind that Kimberly Sobanski is the most curious photographer in Mount Clemons, Michigan. What really surprised me is when I discovered that she currently works as a photographer at the local Sears Portrait Studio. The idea that her photographs are fascinating to people around the world is not surprising to me at all.
Just another portrait of a kid and a lap top...though this one I really like. This is Eric Cranston, age 18, photographed in his parent's home in Visalia, California. 
