PHOTOGRAPHY,
LIFE,
and
the OPPOSITES
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Welcome to my website . . .
My name is Len Bernstein, and when I began to photograph over 30 years ago, I felt I found a way of expressing myself that met something so deep inside me that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life. Walking with my camera, the city streets seemed transformed--friendlier, more interesting--and I spent hours searching for dramatic situations, trying to capture the right moment. Looking through the viewfinder, what I saw had new value for me, boredom and loneliness seemed to vanish, and I wished I could feel that way all the time. And hoping to learn what made a photograph successful, I avidly studied the history and technique of photography. My hopes were met when I
first heard
this principle stated by Eli
Siegel, the American critic and founder of
the philosophy Aesthetic
Realism: “All beauty is a making one of
opposites,
and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in
ourselves.”
I've had the thrill of testing this principle in thousands of
instances,
from the first known photograph taken by Nicéphore Niépce
around 1826 to the most modern work of today. It explains what makes a
photograph good and how our personal questions are the
questions
of art--dignified and cultural! I encourage you to click
on the links below, which include an introduction to my new book, Photography, Life, and the Opposites.
You will learn more
about the magnificent education that explains the deep, practical
relation between art and how we hope to see the world we are meeting
every moment of every day. |
Biography Workshops and Lectures Contact Purchase Prints
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the new book PHOTOGRAPHY, LIFE, and the OPPOSITES (to learn more click here) |
Terrain Gallery Exhibitions
click here to visit New York exhibit
click here to read a review of this thrilling exhibit
published in The Tennessee Tribune
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| “The purpose of
photography,” Eli Siegel explained, “is to create an
emotion about the world through what has been carefully seen and
selected.” I have learned that emotion has to do with every technical
choice photographers make—from deciding what to include and exclude in
the viewfinder, to selecting a moment that we hope conveys eternal
meaning. Click here to read a review of EMOTION — in BLACK & WHITE and COLOR published in Journal of the Print World. |
 Review in Journal of the Print World |
Published Articles about Art and Ethics
People on an Escalator Share A Dream
published in Tennesse Tribune,
The Birmingham Times, The Philadelphia Sun,
La Vida News of Houston, Texas, and African Herald Express
published in The Birmingham Times,
The Bulletin - Philadelphia's Family Newspaper,
Tennessee Tribune
What Do the World and People Deserve? The Photographs of Jacob Riis
published in Photographica World
The Journal of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain
a workshop at Sullivan County Community College
published in Sullivan County Democrat
Gazing into the Mystery of Photography
What will make our roads safe?
published in The River Reporter and Tucson Citizen
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"Do Men and Women Have the Same Question about Strength and Tenderness?" |
Links
Suggested Reading
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