PHOTOGRAPHERS
ETHAN LICHTENFELD
Born between 1953 and 1958 in Kerhonkson, NY. He married and left home at age 23 for
NYC with his wife. He studied painting and plastic arts. He began a photography activity
which he rarely talks about, combining different professions and an approach to the street
influenced by exclusively American photography. He says he has accumulated thousands of
35mm negatives with different cameras that come to hand. Although he defines himself as
self-taught, he nevertheless studied photography during his art studies in New York, whether
historically or technically. A complicated divorce in the 90’s leading to the disappearance of
all his negatives, of which he had until then not exploited anything, forcing him to start from
scratch, which he did by leaving for Europe, then Paris. Discovered near the Grands
Boulevards with his tiny camera in hand, he is the maverick of the collective. Secret, giving
no indication of his life, he has worked since his arrival on the continent exclusively with a
tiny negative. If the argument put forward is economic, it does not escape us that the
explosion of grain, the dramatic aspect of the contrasts, the technical constraints and for 15
years the snub to the impeccable hygiene of digital technology are not for him displeased. He
also signed the Chamber 5 conduct charter, after years of hesitation, which left him, by
absolute principle, destitute. Ethan decided a long time ago to behave like Ahasverus, the
wandering Jew, this legendary character from medieval times. His tiny camera a Pilgrim’s
stick as he walks the streets.