Dmitri Kasterine: Forthright

Friday, March 27, 2020

Forthright

I took this photograph nine years ago on Main Street in Beacon, NY. In today's conditions the forthright attitude that this girl strikes is exactly what is required. It says, "We have to be alone to be safe. We do not know how long this state of life in isolation will last ― I will do it for as long as is necessary."

How the photograph came about: Our poster girl was with two of her friends. As soon as I saw the group I knew I only wanted to photograph her and would have to get rid of the others. I did this by saying how wonderful they would look as a group. Then after I'd done the group, and they were all happy, I asked, "Could I just do one of you alone?". I have used this subterfuge on a number of occasions and it has always worked.

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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

Friday, March 27, 2020

Forthright

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