By Christophe von Hohenberg, foreword by Jay McInerney
Inspired by his stepfather, photographer Wendy Hilty, who presented him with his first camera, a Rolleiflex Twin Lens 2.8, award-winning photographer Christophe von Hohenberg began taking photos at the age of fourteen. Widely known for his photographs at Andy Warhol’s memorial in 1987, he sets his sights on capturing the essence and the magic of the beaches of the Hamptons.
The idyllic Hamptons beaches provides a sense of spiritual connection when the wind and water spray kisses of salt and sand on the sunbathers. Von Hohenberg’s black-and-white photographs of the Hampton beaches give the impression of squinting against the glaring summer sun—bleached out details blur and faint gestures carve out the presence of figures against the vast oceanic expanse. Allowing himself to be “blinded by the light” von Hohenberg has found harmony on the beaches of the Hamptons, a place that cleanses, renews, and soothes.
As delicate smears and ghostly shapes flesh out the familiar yet distant dreamscape of the beaches, von Hohenberg’s photographs intimate an ineffable feeling— haunting, serene, and sublime. The White Album of the Hamptons provides a visual record of von Hohenberg's experiment in capturing the soul of the Hamptons and its unseen world of transcendent illumination.
About the Photographer:
Born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, photographer and author Christophe von Hohenberg was brought up in Southampton, New York; Neubeuern, Germany; St. Croix, Virgin Islands; and New York City. Von Hohenberg has photographed for American Vogue, Interview with Marc Balet, Vanity Fair with Elisabeth Biondi, German Vogue with Rados Protic, French Vogue with Jocelyn Kargere, and advertising campaigns for Givenchy, Estee Lauder, the New York Times, and others. He is the author of, Another Planet: New York Portraits 1976-1996 and Andy Warhol: The Day the Factory Died, designed by Daniel Stark, which won the AIGA Book Award and the Photo District News Award. He currently divides his time between New York City and the Hamptons.
About the Foreword Writer:
Jay McInerney is the author of twelve books, most recently Bright, Precious Days. His other works include Big City, Model Behavior, The Good Life, which received the Grand Prix Littéraire, and How It Ended, a collection of short stories, which the New York Times named one of the best books of the year. His work has appeared in New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New York Review of Books. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and was brought up in Oxford, Surrey, U.K.; West Vancouver, Canada; Chappaqua. New York; and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He currently lives in New York and Nashville, Tennessee.
ISBN: 978-1-943876-14-3 | Photography/Art
104 pages | 8 1/2 x 11” landscape | Jacketed Hardcover
