Steven, 2002 by Hester Esquinazi
About the Photographer:
Steven Nestler is known for his beautifully crafted prints of uniquely intimate and personal landscapes. He has been a photographer and teacher for over 40 years, and has recently relocated to Virginia, having retired from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
His work has been acquired by numerous permanent collections, including:
| The Museum of Modern Art, New York | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
| The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University | The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | Stanford University Art Museum |
| The Art Museum of Vassar College | The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York |
Additionally, his work has been collected by numerous prominent artists including:
| Ansel Adams | Paul Caponigro |
| Stephen Gersh | Davis Pratt |
| Fred Picker | Siegfried Halus |
Personal Statement:
Photography truly is a way of life and a way of seeing the world; a kind of spiritual meditation for those who are fully engaged in it. I feel so blessed to see the world stop its ceaseless activity for a moment, and form itself into a perfect little rectangle for me, revealing just enough of its secrets, just long enough to allow me to catch a glimpse.
What makes this experience even more wonderful and unique, is that I am fortunate enough to come away from it with a photograph, a record of that moment I can share with others.
I have been fortunate for the past twenty years, to share my images with my wife and partner, Cindy.
The depth of her feeling and perception are the feedback that every photographer should have, to inspire their work.
With Fred Picker, 1975 (Hartford Courant photograph)
Comments by Others:
| “His photographic works sing in tonalities that generate a far more reflective and considerate response, a sensuous encounter with the dark, brooding waters and vegetative life of the Everglades. As you spend time with this work, you may see things that are not traditionally encountered. His images are imbued with a scent, a breeze, a whiff of secrets he is revealing. These moments are not simply records of an instant or an event, but require a viewer’s willingness to immerse him or herself in a more intimate relationship with these evocative images.” –Siegfried Halus, internationally known photographer, photo historian, and critic |
| “Steven Nestler’s perfect rectangles capture a unique moment in time that he shares with us. The artistic and spiritual emotions that come to life from the extraordinary gradations of the silver shadows of his negatives, and the intimacy of detail and grandeur of nature they document, reveal his vision and quest for the inner life of his subjects.
His meticulous approach to his traditional photographic and printmaking techniques are hallmarks of his distinctive style, deep-rooted in tradition.” – Arnold H. Drapkin, Picture Editor TIME magazine (retired) |
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“In our digital age, it is refreshing to find photographs such as those by Steven Nestler, photographs that carry on the vision of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and others. Creating such photographs takes commitment, time, and love. The challenge for Steven has been to search, find, and capture the spiritual beauty deeply embedded in nature. His photographs reflect this.” -Richard Zakia, Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology |
Steven Nestler, 2010 by Ken Gantz
Favorite Quotes:
“There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described.”
-Gary Winogrand
“Photography is savoring life at 1/100 of a second.”
-Marc Riboud
“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”
-G. K. Chesterton
“Too much modern art has as its goal merely to be interesting.
Whatever happened to profound and beautiful?”
-Paul Strand
“Art is not about the expression of talent or the making of
pretty things.
It is about the preservation and containment of the soul.
It is about arresting life and making it available for contemplation.
Art captures the eternal in the every day, and it is the eternal that feeds the soul.”
-Thomas Moore
“One of the most important pieces of equipment, for the photographer who really wants to improve, is a great big wastepaper basket.”
-Ansel Adams
“I invent nothing, I rediscover.”
– Auguste Rodin
“The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”
-Yousuf Karsh
“Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art. “
-Tom Stoppard
“To the ignorant man, a tree is merely a tree, a river merely a river, and a mountain merely a mountain.
When he has studied, and learned more of the world, a tree is no longer merely a tree, a river no longer merely a river, and a mountain no longer merely a mountain.
And when he has studied further, and truly found enlightenment,a tree is once more a tree, a river once more a river, and a mountain is once more a mountain.”
-Zen Saying