Michael Kahn

Renowned nautical and nature photographer Michael Kahn’s fascination with both sailing and photography emerged during his formative years learning to sail and experimenting with photography. Kahn finally merged his two passions in 1995 while on a vacation to a lake in the Adirondack Mountains where he first encountered an intriguing boat that he felt compelled to photograph and later began making multiple exposures of one hundred year old boats racing around the lake. Kahn’s photography subjects are not only reserved for tall handmade ships and prestigious yachts, but also for some of the smallest yet graceful crafts as well as the atmospheric beauty of nature that has always fascinated him. Kahn commonly uses a 1950s era medium-format camera and painstakingly handprints his images using a process he developed over many years researching and working in darkrooms. His warm, sepia toned images demonstrate his expertise as a printer as well as a photographer.

Kahn has exhibited internationally at many prominent art galleries. Major corporations such as McGraw Hill, MBNA BANK, Pottery Barn, and Ralph Lauren (London) hold Kahn’s work and MGM and Warner Brothers also use his prints in set designs for films. Kahn’s images have been showcased in prominent magazines and newspapers such as National Geographic, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. His most recent book is entitled The Spirit of Sailing: A Celebration of Sea and Sail. He currently lives in Unionville, Pennsylvania.