All photos © Henry Horenstein

Henry Horenstein studied history at the University of Chicago and earned his BFA and MFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he studied with legends Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.

Henry’s work is collected and exhibited internationally and he has published over 35 books, including several monographs of his own work such as Honky Tonk, Histories, Show, Animalia, Humans, Racing Days, Close Relations, and many others. He has also authored Black & White Photography, Digital Photography, and Beyond Basic Photography, used by hundreds of thousands of college, university, high-school, and art school students as their introduction to photography. His Shoot What You Love serves both as a memoir and a personal history of photography over the past 50 years. His latest monograph, Speedway1972 was published by Stanley/Barker (UK) in 2022 and We Sort of People will be published fall 2023 by Kehrer Verlag (Ger).

In recent years, Henry has been making films: Preacher, Murray, Spoke, Partners, and Blitto Underground. He is currently in production on Marksville, LA, a film about Cajun Louisiana.

Henry is professor of photography at RISD and lives in Boston.

[Left: Henry Horenstein portrait by Kelly Davidson]

Journalist and Writer Leslie Tucker and photographer Henry Horenstein began working together in 1997, when she invited him to Maryland to shoot a mysterious multiethnic family, the little-known Wesort clan: “We sorts are different from you sorts.” The project started as a genealogical search for a family whose roots stretched back to the founding of the first Catholic colony, it grew into a mystery about the multiethnic origins of America, then became a race against time as the Wesorts and their descendants disappeared and their stories died. While Horenstein photographed the last generation of Proctors and their disappearing world, Tucker recorded the conversations she had with the wise women of the family. A living archive emerges, with voices that portray the complex realities of their lives in their own words, as seen through their eyes.

We Sort of People by Henry Horenstein
Published by Kehrer Verlag, 2023.
Hardcover, 136 pages
ISBN 978-39-69001-15-8
We Sort of People is available for purchase Harvey Milk Photo Center

While at grad school in the early 1970’s Henry Horenstein would attend Speedway races, in New England to see his brother in law compete. In front of his camera the drivers would fly around the track in beat-up cars customized for racing at break neck speeds in the hopes of small town glory.

Horenstein’s joyful images present us with a slice now, of what the world of motor racing looked like then, before racing became big business, as it slowly morphed into Nascar – the worlds fastest growing sport.

Speedway1972 by Henry Horenstein
Published by Stanley/Barker, 2022.
Hardcover, 88 pages
ISBN 978-19-13288-47-1
Speedway1972 is available for purchase Harvey Milk Photo Center

Serving the San Francisco community since 1940, the Harvey Milk Photo Center is the oldest and largest community wet darkroom in the United States, and is associated with the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department. We also offer a full digital lab at our facility to our members. The Harvey Milk Photo Center is located at 50 Scott Street, within Duboce Park, in the lower level of the Harvey Milk Center for the Arts building. We have been in our current location since 1954.

The Center for Photographic Art inspires the artist and the audience by nurturing the personal growth essential to creating and appreciating art. CPA works to increase understanding of and respect for photography and its important role in contemporary culture. CPA’s mission involves increasing understanding and respect of photography and its evolving role in contemporary culture. CPA strives to address artistic development, build well-informed audiences, stimulate dialogue, and promote inquiry about photography and related media through education, exhibitions, publications, lectures, fellowship programs, and community collaboration.