Steve J. Sherman is a familiar face to concertgoers in New York – not as a performer but as the city's most prominent concert photographer. From mid-1980s until 2000, he was on call seven nights a week to document concerts for the New York Times. In roughly that same period he was the official house photographer for Carnegie Hall, where he continues to work frequently.
One of Sherman's most famous subjects has been Leonard Bernstein. His photographs of the iconic conductor and composer are featured in a new book called Leonard Bernstein at Work: His Final Years, 1984-1990. He tells Jeff Spurgeon about its genesis:
Comments [6]
I commend Steve J. Sherman for his photographic eye.
You guys are the best!!
Leonard Berstein was a genius. Everything he conducted even opera was marvelous.
Steve Sherman is 100% correct in his position regarding black and white photography. It is also true in movies. Color dazzles, but black and white is more beautiful and allows the nuances of the acting and the story to be revealed more meaningfully. As an amateur, I shot loads of Ektachrome transparencies, but for quality, the 4x5 pix I shot and printed as a student are the best. One more point, look at the great black and white portraits by Yosef Karsh of Ottawa which provide additional proof that Mr Sherman is correct in his opinion regarding black and white photography.
This is fantastic.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN was greatly admired in Vienna and Berlin and all of Europe, indeed. His facial expressions, his body language while conducting, and his articulate explanation of the "mechanics" and methodologies of the architectural structuring in the various musical formats to young and old of the musical treasures, masterpieces, was sheer genius at work. He may not have been the "greatest" in any of his endeavors, as composer, as pianist, as conductor, as teacher or as activist for human rights, but he tried his best to Renaissance man to achieve all that time allotted him.
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