Kevin Kunstadt

Kevin Kunstadt (b. 1982, New York, NY) is an American photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BA in Visual Art from Brown University in 2004. Kunstadt’s work has been exhibited at Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York City, GE World Headquarters, and Smith College among others. His work has been published in National Geographic, on TIME.COM and in countless print and online publications including in AI-AP’s American Photography 27 and 31. His commercial clients include galleries, artists, and graphic, fashion, architecture, and industrial design firms throughout New York City. He also served as the co-founder and co-director of K&K Gallery in Brooklyn, NY for three years, with a focus on promoting the work of young and un-established photographers in the New York City area, and from around the world. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Photography at Hartford Art School. Today we share Kevin’s series titled NIGHT FLIGHT.

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NIGHT FLIGHT

LaGuardia Airport in New York City averages roughly eight hundred and sixty two operations per day. JFK averages roughly one thousand and twenty six. Depending upon one’s location, these operations might pass over head in a steady stream of intervals; they are sometimes more, sometimes less noticed, but form an incessant backdrop. The straightforward aim was to record a few such flights with a camera. Airplanes have lights – headlights, tail lights, navigation lights – and by means of the camera, this light can be traced onto film and etched into a cityscape. The path becomes a line. One that delineates a residue of movement in space over time. The photograph makes clear the route that the plane implied. A summertime exercise. But, due to variability of the human pilot and the time it takes to set up a camera, a bit of guesswork and luck comes into play: one can only estimate where planes will go based on prior flight paths and regulations. Like a lot of photography: a game of chances. This game supplied impetus to travel urban zones on the ground based upon some predetermined routes in the sky. The exposures themselves were between 3 and 30 minutes.

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To view more of Kevin’s work please visit his website.