Press Coverage

DAVID MICHAEL KENNEDY
From Commercial Photography in New York to Fine Arts in Cerrillos

East Mountain Telegraph Volume 1, Number 3, February 9, 1988
PROFILE By REBECCA SAUNDERS

I drove my junker into Cerrillos. Why, I asked myself as my car bumped over pot-holes, would a guy who photographed Bob Dylan move from Manhattan to dusty little Cerrillos?

People hammered and painted away at old buildings on main street. The town, basking in sand-colored light, left me feeling peaceful and at ease. Cerrillos, one can't help but notice, is built to human scale.

Stepping into David Michael Kennedy's house, I was immediately thrust into the craziness of his past. "Steve, I can't deal with that type of money. You know that's not my interest." He busily talked on the phone with Steve who, from the sound of their conversation, resided in New York City and was connected to $$$.

"I bet our income dropped $200,000 this year when we moved here," David told me later. "But we wanted to move...."

"For a better quality of life," Lucy, his wife, chimed in.

Stepping from yellow-serene Cerrillos into city-madness was only a brief interlude. Kennedy can operate at both extremes. Since moving here seven months ago with Lucy and their 3 1/2- year-old son, Jesse, David has attained an amazing Cerillosesque calmness. It turns out his minauderie (French for trademark) for photographing famous people is based on "just being human."

Among subjects done for advertising and record covers are Bob Dylan, Julian Lennon, Muddy Waters, Isaac Stem, Bruce Springsteen, George Carlin and on and on. To hear him talk almost gives you the feeling the world is a small community. Kind of like Cerrillos.