David Katzenstein: Brownie

Brownie is a collection of photographs created by photographer David Katzenstein over ten years from 1979–89. With this series Katzenstein pays homage to the famous line of Brownie cameras introduced in 1900. He used its successor, the Kodak Dualflex, which followed in 1947. The result is a colourful, personal and sensitive view of the world. Described by one critic as “Hot, lush and specific”, the series starts in New York City and travels the globe to explore both distant places and the use of the Kodak Duaflex camera, launched in 1947 as an upgrade to the iconic Kodak Brownie cameras. Throughout the project, Katzenstein’s goal was to embrace the camera’s limitations as a means of pushing the boundaries of composition, juxtaposing foreground and background while heightening the use of colour. The superbly designed and produced publication is rounded with an introduction by Richard Grosbard.