Étés francais is a collection of photographs from numerous summer travels to France between 1996 and 2007. During each summer our family would rent the same small gite in the northern part of Brittany on a country road between the old bustling summer resort of Dinard and the inland hamlet where our cousins owned a two hundred year old farmhouse. Time would stand still as we ventured near and far, exploring the shores and valleys of this rugged province located four hours west of Paris.
During each summer we always had the same plan: arrive in Paris, rent a car and travel to some new part of the country before ending up at our gite in Brittany. When our time near the beach came to an end we would pack up and head back to Paris, where our favorite room at our favorite hotel in the Latin Quarter would await us. Paris would then be ours for a short spell – its parks and streets and markets and museums never ceased to amaze us with a special beauty that only this city can provide.
Then back to our home at summer's end with memories to comfort us as we waited for film to be processed and images put to paper. The magic of the darkroom replaced the excitement of travel, where people and places appeared as white and grey and black, formalizing what had been just the blink of an eye.
Dinard, Brittany 1996 © David Katzenstein
Dinard, Brittany 2001 © David Katzenstein
Dinard, Brittany 2007 © David Katzenstein
New York fine arts photographer David Katzenstein has traveled throughout the world on his lifelong artistic journey as a visual chronicler of humanity. Using subject, light, and composition to create visual dynamism, he sets the stage for the viewer to be in the moment with him. His goal is to allow viewers to experience a scene through his eyes—as if they were standing there beside him. Steeped in the tradition of documentary photography, Katzenstein imbues his work with immediacy, emotional engagement, and a deep respect for his subjects.
Out of his fascination with ritual, over the years Katzenstein has photographed pilgrimage as practiced in different cultures. While visiting Memphis in the spring of 2017, he was inspired to expand on this theme by embarking on the project OUTSIDE THE LORRAINE MOTEL: Journey to a Sacred Place. The artist was introduced to the Mid-South region in the late 1980s while on assignment for Rolling Stone, documenting the roots of the blues in rural communities of Mississippi and Arkansas.
In 2018 Katzenstein formed a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and mount exhibitions of photographs depicting the human experience.
www.thehumanexperienceproject.net
davidkatzenstein.com
All about David Katzenstein
Paris 1996 © David Katzenstein
Paris 2007 © David Katzenstein
