With professional assignments at a Covid standstill, a professional photographer turns to his iPhone during nightly walks through the deserted streets of Sea Cliff, offering new perspectives on the village we know so well. This is Alan Klein’s first photography exhibit.

The best camera is the one you have with you.

Alan Klein picked up a camera at age 15 and never put it down. His first assignments were as

staff photographer for the University of Rochester school paper. Post-college, Alan studied at

the International Center of Photography (ICP) before launching a lifelong professional career

photographing events and portraits for a range of business, entertainment and news-outlet

clients in New York City.

“When I started taking photos, I was mostly interested in process. Working in the darkroom

was like being a mad scientist, conjuring up images on a blank sheet of paper.” For Klein, the

art part came later, after studying with Gary Winogrand and George Tice—two distinctly

different types of photographers. Examining how they (and other photographers) viewed the

world helped him develop his own exploratory approach, to respond to what is in front of the

lens in the most compelling and direct way.

After decades in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Klein and his wife moved to Sea Cliff in 2011—a

fortuitous change from city to quaint village that provided a whole new canvas for his work. “I

spent most of my life photographing people—parties, portraits and all kinds of events—bags

of camera gear in tow. Then came the pandemic and public life as we knew it, including

professional assignments, came to a standstill.”

Sea Cliff, shrouded in eerie silence, took on a meditative quality when the sun went down.

And Klein, an early adopter of professional digital photography, had been experimenting with

the iPhone for over a decade. His iPhone became a creative companion during nightly walks

in the hush of the village. Without human distraction, the hum of the roads, and music in the

parks, other life beckoned. Trees took on a kind of personification. Houses offered up their

unique personalities; each seeming to reveal stories about home, hardship, families, and

generations of inhabitants. Capturing the everyday in the light of a Covid world and how night

further alters experience—Klein saw it through the lens of an iPhone. This project was born in

that time, and he still loves nocturnal meanderings around Sea Cliff.

This is Alan Klein’s first solo exhibit of his work. “Through My Eyes: Sea Cliff Nightscapes”

will be on display at the Sea Cliff Arts Council from August 1 through September 30.