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Interview with photographer Daniel Kramer

Daniel Kramer: Bob Dylan

08/01/2016

"When photographer Daniel Kramer first met Bob Dylan, the young singer was still
largely unknown. At their initial meeting in Woodstock, Dylan seemed restless and
uncomfortable in front of the camera. Yet over the course of a year and a day, all of that
would change. From vast, enraptured concert halls to intimate recording sessions,
Kramer watched and photographed as a young folk singer transformed into the poet
laureate of a generation.
This Art Edition presents nearly 200 images from Kramer’s remarkable 1964–65
Dylan portfolio with the accompanying numbered and signed archival
black-and-white fiber-based gelatin silver print, Bob Dylan with Dark Glasses, NYC,
1964. True to Dylan’s constant, cryptic state of becoming, this iconic image captures
the star after his spellbinding concert with Joan Baez on Halloween night at Lincoln
Center’s Philharmonic Hall, as much a summation of Dylan’s work so far as a
summons in an electrifying new direction. He brought the crowd 17 songs, including
“The Times They Are A-Changin,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and “All I Really Want
to Do,” mesmerizing the full house with the lilting run on the harmonica; the strumming
guitar; and the lyrics that were fast, irreverent, and epic at once.
“Something’s happening here and you don’t know what it is,” Dylan would later deride
in Ballad of a Thin Man. But at Lincoln Center on October 31, 1964, Daniel Kramer
did. Bob Dylan with Dark Glasses captures Dylan right after the show, shades and
cigarette intact. It’s got swagger, mystique, and the slight blur of an artist in restless,
rebellious motion. For Kramer, it is the quintessential Bob Dylan.", Taschen