Dmitri Kasterine: Envious moment

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Envious moment

I dug this out of the files: the bar at the Bolshoi, Moscow, 1980. The place much more brightly lit than Diner so no camera shake troubles, this time with a Leica. In this picture I want to know what the passing man is thinking as he watches the couple about to gobble up their glasses of champagne. Or is it the girl he's looking at?

4 comments:

ERDOctober 3, 2009 at 10:31 AM
I don't know which photo to be more envious of: "Solemn moment" or "Envious moment." The first photo, expresses a depth to the relationship that is moving. I love the way the girl's hand rests on her friend's ear and the downward stares. In the second, I think the man is noting a young, attractive, couple in love - always refreshing sight.
Dmitri, great job of capturing such beautiful chemistry.
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HeatherOctober 7, 2009 at 12:03 PM
What a great way of presenting the photographs, with a theme very similar to the one above it...I love it! You must either have an excellent memory for the shots you've taken, or else an excellent filing system for your work! Which is it?
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Dmitri KasterineOctober 7, 2009 at 1:29 PM
I do not forget the pictures I like. The ones I never liked I soon forget and should destroy, because they seldom get better.
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John GreeneOctober 12, 2009 at 11:45 PM
The expression of the passing man looks as if he's feeling more disillusion than admiration. My guess is that he's looking not at the girl but on the pour. The young man's eyes also concentrate on the pour, though it's clear that his thoughts are with her. Brilliant!
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From the photographer

I started this blog in December 2008. At the time I did not know if I would enjoy it or not, and whether I would get any response to it. I am enjoying it and people have responded. I made a silent pledge at the outset not to say much about my artistic intentions or the composition of the photograph. I would just talk about what led up to taking the picture and what it was like doing it.

The discipline is actually not a strain for me, because I do not desire, and really have never been capable of discussing my intentions, artistic or otherwise. My wanting to take a photograph appears as fast as a bolt and without warning when I spot the subject. I then take it or not, depending on how brave, awake, or fumbling I am with the camera. I enjoy exploring, looking for things that stop me, or frighten me. To fear to take a picture usually means you want to take it.

dmitri@kasterine.com

Biography

Born in England in 1932, I started out as a properly brought up young gentleman with an English mother and White Russian father. He fought wars all his adult life and died in a car accident in the North of England at the age of forty-seven.

Photography came to me at aged eleven, photographing birds at the bird feeder my mother put up outside the kitchen window. After the acute disappointment of the birds being minute specs in the picture, I did cows in the fields around us in Kent.

After the wine trade, Lloyd’s, racing cars, selling cars and flying aeroplanes to Australia, I became a photographer. I photographed my friend’s engagements and their weddings. I worked for magazines and advertising agencies.

I was sent to Los Angeles to photograph Mick Jagger, returned to England via New York where I met Salvador Dali in the elevator at the St. Regis Hotel. Thence started my interest in living here. Three or four years later I moved to America, remarried and lived happily ever after.

Dmitri Kasterine

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Envious moment

4 comments:

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