Your Bio

Born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Montana, Rodger Kingston has lived in Massachusetts since 1968. He has shown extensively throughout the United States, and his photographs are in many collections, including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, and the National Gallery of American Art and Corcoran Gallery of Art, both in Washington, DC.

In his 1989 exhibition catalog "Larger Than Life: The Celebrity Series," photographic historian Estelle Jussim wrote, “Rodger Kingston’s pictures are visual poems, strong, meticulous.... He is an artist without pretensions, finding beauty and complexity in popular imagery, and he pursues his findings with an admirable affection.”

Museum curator, author, and photographic historian Clark Worswick has stated that Rodger Kingston “... is amongst the best artists that America has ever offered: for his generosity of' spirit: for the blast of adrenalin I get from his encounters with 'the great ordinary of American vernacular': for his sense of history in photography: and for his deep sense of proportion, common sense, and uncommon humor."

His most recent museum exhibition, "Along the Right of Way: Landscapes from a Train," showed at the Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA, in 2002, and his 1998 exhibition, "Fifty Years on the Mangrove Coast: Photographs by Walker Evans and Rodger Kingston," traveled to five Florida museums over a period of two years.

Kingston's latest book is "New American Photographs" (see gallery, below). A Walker Evans scholar, he is the author of "Walker Evans In Print: An Illustrated Bibliography." He has a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University.

Archival inkjet prints in several sizes, printed by the photographer, are available through the Panopticon Gallery of Photography http://www.panopt.com/home.php) or from Kingston directly; he can be reached at rpkphoto@comcast.net.

After visiting any of the galleries, click on "Rodger Kingston (rpkphoto)", at top left, to return to this home page.

Galleries

New Additions : This gallery displays new additions to all my active galleries chronologically, with the most recent photographs appearing first. Since most of my galleries are arranged thematically, newly added photographs tend to get lost within the larger image sequences. This seems to me the most straightforward way of allowing regular viewers to see new images as they are added. 

Some of these new images will stay; most will not. Feel free to express your preferences, as well as pointing out those you think don't work.

New Additions

This gallery displays new additions to all my active galleries chronol ...

Updated: Jul 02, 2008 8:33pm PST

New American Photographs : NEW AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS NOW PUBLISHED AS AN ARTIST'S BOOK

 The title, "New American Photographs" has a double meaning: as a continuation of the lyric documentary tradition of Walker Evans’ 1938 classic  AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS and as acknowledgement of the seismic shift that has taken place technically in photography during the past decade. The images in NEW AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS have all been made since 2003 with digital cameras, and continue work documenting the American social landscape that Kingston began in the 1970s on 35mm color film. 

Museum curator and author Clark Worswick says about Rodger Kingston, “He is amongst the best artists that America has ever offered: for his generosity of spirit: for the blast of adrenalin I get from his encounters with "the great ordinary of American vernacular": for his sense of history in photography: and for his deep sense of proportion, common sense, and uncommon humor. Rodger's point of departure for this book is Evans "American Photographs" ... what a thing to stand up to, and to actually be able to prevail in this space.  Amazing... simply amazing to pull this off.  This is a sheer bravado performance!"

NEW AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS is available as an artist's book in an edition of 50 signed and numbered hardcover copies, each accompanied by an original 8x10” print printed and signed by the photographer. Purchasers may select their print from any of the 110 images in the book. The edition was released in November, 2007 with a retail price of $350; however, copies 1 through 30 quickly sold, and with copy number 31, the price rose to $400. Copies number 32 through 50 are still  available. Inquiries and orders may be directed to Rodger Kingston at rpkphoto@comcast.net.

Feel free to comment (below) or by email. Click on "Rodger Kingston (rpkphoto)" (above) to return to my home page.

New American Photographs

NEW AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS NOW PUBLISHED AS AN ARTIST'S BOOK The title ...

Updated: Feb 11, 2008 2:13pm PST

Toronto Summer, 2004 : In July 2004 I visited Toronto to see my old friend, Indian filmmaker Bikram Kahn. He lived near Kensington Market, where I spent a lot of my time. The Kensington Market area has a cobbled-together look, like a movie set from the 1940s, with fruit stands and clothing stores, junk shops, butcher shops, bakeries, and eateries, all spilling out onto the sidewalks like a tiny lower east side with hordes of friendly people shopping, strolling, hanging out.  

Queen Street, bordering the tall buildings downtown, is another matter; trendy and on the rise. A few old shops remain, but not for long. I arrived to warm weather with a new digital camera and a stranger's fresh eyes. I'd always heard that Toronto was gray and staid; if you wanted color, go to Montreal. As it turned out, I couldn't have asked for anything more.   

I print my own archival pigment prints on fine matte papers. For inquiries and prices please contact me at rpkphoto@comcast.net. 

Try the slideshow feature (at the upper right); it takes a few moments to load, but is otherwise excellent. Feel free to comment (below) /or to email me at rpkphoto@comcast.net. Click on "Rodger Kingston (rpkphoto)" (above) to return to my home page.

Toronto Summer, 2004

In July 2004 I visited Toronto to see my old friend, Indian filmmaker ...

Updated: Aug 08, 2007 1:15am PST

The Deval Patrick Campaign for Governor of Massachusetts : I worked as a volunteer photographer for the Deval Patrick Campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, documenting the election during its last two frenetic months in the Fall of 2006, and then eight weeks later, at the Inauguration. Once I had the images I needed at a campaign event, I turned my camera around and photographed within the crowd, as a part of the crowd. It is these photographs of ordinary people come together to support Deval Patrick that comprise the heart of this work.

I’ve heard talk of a new era of race relations in Massachusetts; whether or not this is true, I certainly felt something extraordinary while photographing the campaign. It was as if racial differences were something to value in one another, and instead of diminishing our differences, we were empowered to build something out of them, and to celebrate them. Perhaps because of this, the photographs almost seemed to take themselves, and cut to the essence of the Campaign, with its slogan, “Together We Can.”

"A Victory for Hope," an exhibition of these photographs, was shown at the Panopticon Gallery of Photography, in Boston, MA, from January 29 through May 10, 2007. 

In March, 2008 the Deval Patrick Committee installed 30 photographs from this series in their new Boston offices.

Try the slideshow feature (at the upper right); it takes a few moments to load, but is otherwise excellent. Feel free to comment (below) or to email me at rpkphoto@comcast.net. Click on "Rodger Kingston (rpkphoto)" (above) to return to my home page.

The Deval Patrick Campaign for Governor of Massachusetts

I worked as a volunteer photographer for the Deval Patrick Campaign fo ...

Updated: Nov 03, 2007 7:44pm PST

Barack Obama : Senator Obama came to stump for Deval Patrick twice during the months that I photographed the Patrick Campaign for Governor of Massachusetts. During those visits to Boston I got to observe him up close and for extended lengths of time.

He was very powerful: his personal magnetism filled the spaces - one a small hotel function room, the other a sports arena - where he appeared with Deval, and I think it was there that my commitment to his presidential campaign began, even though he was still months away from declaring his candidacy. 

I don't think that I have ever met anyone who impressed me with the sheer power of his intellect and personality as Barack Obama did.

I will add more photographs and impressions over the coming months as I take them. Try the slideshow feature (at the upper right); it takes a few moments to load, but is otherwise excellent.

Anyone interested in purchasing prints or one-time publication rights please contact me at rpkphoto@comcast.net. And please visit my other Smugmug galleries. Click on "Rodger Kingston (rpkphoto)" (above) to return to my home page.

Barack Obama

Senator Obama came to stump for Deval Patrick twice during the months ...

Updated: May 16, 2008 8:13am PST