David Michael Kennedy

© David Michael Kennedy

It was a few weeks ago, when I stumbled across the website of the famous New York Institute of Photography. The only thing I remember was this: there is a simple Three-Step method, which they call a secret of every successful photograph ever taken:

Step 1. Know your subject.
Step 2. Focus attention on your subject.
Step 3. Simplify.

This is what they teach their students. But I think there is one more step, a secret of secrets, which even New Your gurus didn’t make public yet:

Step 0. Love you subject.

Photographer David Michael Kennedy was educated right there, at the New York Institute of Photography. And if you visit his website (www.davidmichaelkennedy.com), you will see that he followed the guidelines of his teachers. Be it landscapes, portraits of celebrities, everyday people or American Indian ceremonial dancers and elders, all those pictures are evidences of his photographic mastery. Does he also follow the Step 0? Well, that’s something you have to figure out yourself. I saw he does.

“I have been photographing people, well known and unknown, for over 30 years. My primary interest has been to discover and unveil the uniqueness that makes each person a unique being. I find that when I successfully photograph a person the image we create is quite amazing.” - David Michael Kennedy -