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Lew Cadkin

  • Art
  • Film
  • Music
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artist bio

Lew Cadkin (www.lewcadkinimages.com) is an emerging fine art photographer who lives and works in southeastern Wisconsin. He primarily focuses on photographing the dramatic textures and tonalities found in industrial landscape. His depictions of organic shapes that sit near or within angular architectural forms evoke feelings of depth, structure, and design.

His educational background and interest in design, architecture, and photography has sustained throughout his life. His work life in various manufacturing industries informs his love of man-made structures that show aspects of their function, yet imitate nature in some way.

His photographs naturally slant toward Black and White. Color is reserved for more subtle subjects of texture. He is driven by the craftsmanship required in making a good photograph. Cadkin’s use of detail is evident in most of his work. That detail enables the viewer to explore the detail living in the many facets of his subjects.

The photographer brings a mastery of composition, an intuitive sense of flow and pattern, and an understanding of the essence of the subject. As a realist photographer his work may seem unassuming at first. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that he is giving us a poetic composition of subject, light and shadow.

artist statement

There is magic in capturing a moment that will never exist in exactly the same way again. Changing light and shadow define the form and texture of a subject. The way shape, color, texture, and shadow, exist in a specific light and at a specific time, define what we see.

Each observer also brings their own life experience to an image. The feeling that an image evokes, also determines what we see. When we look at an Ansel Adams landscape, or a Vivien Maier street photograph, they evoke a feeling. The photographs create a feeling by telling a story using light. Light falling on the unique characteristics of a subject, defines the subject in that moment.

My current focus is on industrial and architectural subjects. They sit unadorned, basking in the changing atmosphere. Industrial settings exhibit a contradiction of forms. They show organic shapes standing near or within angular structures.

My work represents different ways that light and shadow reveal essence. This awareness prompts the thinking behind how I photograph a subject. It also informs image decisions on color vs black and white printing. My intent is to convey complex subjects with clarity and simplicity.

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