david michael kennedy photography

In 1987 Kennedy realized that he had reached a plateau and knew that if he was going to stay in New York he would need to expand his business, hire more people, and climb to the next rung of the ladder. "You can't stay where you are in New York," he says. "You're either going up or going down and things were starting to get comfortable. For an artist, that is dangerous. I realized how far removed I was from the actual photo world. I don't understand the collector mentality, the art world pricing, the hype, the incredibly beautiful work that nobody ever buys, and the garbage that's sold for $20,000 to $30,000. I didn't fit into that world being part photographer, part businessman, and part PR person. I wanted to make photographs for myself- landscapes, clouds, mountains..."

So Kennedy and his wife Lucy, a native New Yorker, drove across the country and made some major life decisions. A 100 year-old house in the remote village of Cerrillos, New Mexico, soon became home and despite the $200,000 drop in income the first year, Kennedy could photograph what he loved. Within a short time his work was represented in the Andrew Smith Gallery and other fine galleries in and around Santa Fe and he was invited to teach landscape and portrait photography at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop. He also taught platinum printing on a one- to-one basic, the fortunate student residing in his home.

"The move to this little dirt town was the scariest thing we could do," he recalls. "The place looked like an old West mining town and we would wake up in the morning and find cows on our front porch. Two and a half years ago we moved a little closer to Santa Fe on Highway 14 since we have to drive our son to school in Santa Fe every day and we needed more space and bigger darkroom facilities."

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