"This camera, and this way of photographing, is forcing me not to be a perfectionist," Kennedy says. "The film is flimsy and scratches easily, and these glitches are part of that medium. One element of the process for me is learning how to accept the defects, and just let it happen. I don't demand the same perfection that I do in my palladium prints. But the silver prints do have their own inherent beauty. Also, I've been working with a Holga and a Zero pinhole camera, and there is a certain amount of serendipity involved. In some cases, I don't know what I'm really shooting, and that sort of appeals to me. It's about letting go.

"The 4x5 camera I am working with now has a Schneider lens and works better for me."

But whatever gear Kennedy uses.. he sees it all as an exhilarating experience, a creative challenge to go outside the box and Push the creative envelope in new directions.

NATIVE AMERICAN DANCERS

Kennedy is perhaps most well known for his exquisite images of Native American dancers. The pictures have an intimate appeal and spiritual presence that immediately strikes the viewer as something more than a document of a dance. There are good reasons for this. The images surely involve his unique eye and his respect for the people and their culture. But what comes through most in these, and his other photographs, is his personal involvement with the people he photographs and his sense of communion and liaison between the photographer and the person who perhaps might later look at his images.

"When the person sitting for a
portrait speaks to me with their eyes
wide open to the inquiring camera,
they create the possibility for a
conversation with whoever may
examine the photograph in the future."

His involvement with the Native American dancers, and sub- sequent essays and individual photographs, began, oddly enough, because of his work with Penthouse magazine. The magazine's publisher, Bob Guccione, gave Kennedy the assignment to photograph Leonard Pelletier, one of the members of the American Indian Movement, who is serving two life sentences in prison.

Said Kennedy, "The involvement with Pelletier at Leavenworth, where I did that story, renewed my spiritual aware- ness and involvement. It showed me that I could do many things with my photography beyond making money. I was just ready to hear all that, I suppose, because ever since I was a kid I felt a kin- ship to Native American culture:" The portfolios of Native American dancers strike a chord in people who might never have heard of Leonard Pelletier or know what the Sun Dance is. While his technique of photographing from a low angle with a medium format camera creates an inti- mate yet respectful pose, there is something beyond point of view that comes through in each image. His portfolio is enhanced even more by his use of palladium printing techniques.

All the photographs of the dancers were made away from public areas so as not to offend any tribe members who might not understand the purpose or permissions given Kennedy. "But it was not removing the people from the experience -- in fact, they all had a say in what I did and how I did it, and every time I sell one of the prints a percentage of the money goes back to the tribes.

"My first portfolio of dancers was made with the northern New Mexico Pueblo people, and then I began to photograph the Lakota people, who .live mostly around the Black Hills .of South Dakota." One project Kennedy wished to complete was photographing the Sun Dance, a very special ceremony for the Lakota. "I had attend- ed the dance many times but had not photographed it," he relates. "The Lakota Dance Portfolio, as this project came to be called, required the inclusion of the Sun Dance, but I always knew it would take me time to get permission to do that photography and time to get it right. It took me four years.

"I always go directly to the traditional elders, the medicine men and the other leaders of the old way for permission, and for guidance on whom to photograph. I believe that respect. must be given; and in that way it will be returned."

THE PINE RIDGE SERIES

Kennedy's latest portfolio of black-and-white images, Pine Ridge, looks behind the scenes at the people depicted in his earlier dancer portfolios. The Dancers portfolios were made up of elegant, unique, limited edition, warm-toned palladium prints. The Pine Ridge series gives a starker impression and is made up of black-and-white silver images. It is more documentary in approach, showing the often hard reality of Native American life.

"I felt as though had reached a plateau.
I was in a very comfortable place, but I had to either
climb to another level, or slide down,
and I knew I didn’t want to do either”.

Kennedy believes that by showing where the dancers come from, he reveals the courage, hope, strength and spirituality of these people. "I'm out to show what they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis," he says, "and how strong and resilient a people they are. A picture of a trailer might look sad and depressing, but the people there still have time to honor their spirits with ceremonies and sweat lodges. As I look at these prints," says Kennedy, "I see these people as true survivors, and how they have endured. In a way, after doing the Dancers work I felt that I really wanted to photograph and share the other side of Native American life. It is a harsh land -it's not all regalia, ceremony and dancing. But despite the hardships, in front of the camera people become transformed and show what a proud people they truly are."

Kennedy's prime concern when doing portraits is to uncover the uniqueness of the individual. He says, "All people have a special beauty, even when our culture says they don't. It is my goal to reveal the soul of each individual. My aim is for the viewer of my photographs to actually engage in a dialogue with the person photographed. When the person sitting for a portrait speaks to me with their eyes wide open to the inquiring camera, they create the possibility for a conversation with whoever may examine the photograph in the future.

"I am thrilled by the possibility of creating a space in which the subject may reveal himself or herself in an intimate way. Often it's their only access to that other person who might see them only in a photograph. I believe that a lot of power exists in this interchange, and I am honored by the trust exhibited by both the subjects and viewers engaging in this silent dialogue."

Although he is respected worldwide for his photography and the integrity and quality of his images, Kennedy's profound sense of the power of the photograph does not affect his picture of himself. "It surprises me that people know me," he says, "because I am just another photographer making pictures."

Top right: Grandma Curley, Coyote Canyon, New Mexico, July 2003, toned silver print
Top left: Russell Means, San Jose, New Mexico, March 2003, tone silver print
Above left: Waiting for White Bear, Porcupine, South Dakota, December 1996, palladium print
Above right: Don King N.Y.C. November 1983, palladium print

Grace Califano Schaub is an artist and photographer who writes on photography and contemporary photographers. She teaches photography at The New School University in New York City, and has co-authored The Marshall's Handcoloring Guide and Gallery. Her own handcolored black and white photographs have been exhibited around the country. Her work is represented by the Variant Gallery in Taos, Mew Mexico. You can reach Grace at grace_schaub@hotmail.com or at gschaub@aol.com.