Bern Cohen 

BERN COHEN, Photographer Bern’s first photography show at age nine, at The Hamilton Settlement House in NYC’s Chinatown happened when a social worker dragged him in and made him select a club. He selected the photography club, which loaned him a camera and a roll of film. The next day, he played hooky and went to the zoo to create his first show, “At The Zoo.”`

 

Years later, after graduating with a degree in Theater, Cohen did a year-long photography internship with the PBS Flagship Art Department at New York’s Channel 13 and worked as a photo-stringer for PBS's 13-News for any events in Harlem during the volatile late sixties when TV news relied on still photography rather than videography. Cohen’s teaching job in Harlem gave him local access. His first one-man photography show as an adult was about Harlem and was at Harlem’s Countee Cullen African-American Art Center and Library.

 

Transitioning from documentary to art-photography after moving to the Nyack area, Bern had one-man shows at The Madrigal Gallery (Nyack), Blue Gallery (Saratoga), The Factory Gallery (Middletown), The Courthouse Gallery (Goshen) and The Happy Dog Gallery (Piermont). Simultaneously, Cohen created a children’s book for National Geographic, “Wonders of The Desert,” which gave him a body of Southwestern images. He also founded The Lighthouse Art Gallery that focused on Photography and Haitian art in Nyack’s now-gone lighthouse.

 

During most recent years, Cohen’s movie and TV acting career has limited his involvement in photography shows to Nyack, but he is working on a photo project about women in non-traditional jobs and is also hoping to organize a book of his Asia photography.