Eric Kaltenmark | “The Naked town”

Eric Kaltenmark | “The Naked town”

Lack of people in the environment

“This photography series is the result of driving around our small community of Greeneville and surrounding areas located at the base of the Smoky Mountain range in East Tennessee.
A very social and active community came to an immediate standstill as COVID-19 cases came into our state and eventually our town. The state orders to close nonessential business, close schools, and limit social gatherings to no more than ten quickly provided a stark contrast to our normally active community.
My photos were an attempt to document the contrast from our everyday busy life to one in isolation as we sheltered in place to wait for the pandemic to pass.”

Eric Kaltenmark

Eric Kaltenmark, a photographer working to document emergency responders while responding to calls, during training and most importantly, the human side of the job, the pride and sometimes the struggles in performing their job.
“Capturing the human side was the hook that drew me in and keeps me searching for opportunities to document the men and women of the emergency services.
These are photos that reflect daily moments in my homeland. Some are victorious with rescues of persons in need. Some of are crushing moments of sadness with a loss of a patient. Some moments last an eternity as an emergency, responders struggle to deal with issues such as PTSD”.

My technique has less to do with equipment and more to do with trust. Most of the photos I take are the action photos to document the work of the responders; I love taking those. However, the photos I’m after are of the responders when their guard is down when they forget that I am there or once I’ve gained their trust that they allow me to see them without their guard up.
Time is my biggest enemy to gaining the trust needed to get the personal shots I’m after. Too short on time and the photos are posed, too long, and my time is up. I am honest with the responders as to why I’m there and what I would like to do. Because some photos will show vulnerability, I must gain their trust that their pictures are not going to be misused. Trust is the technique. Time also played a significant role in the COVID-19 photos as I was trying to document the environment before it changed again and before more restrictions were placed on travel.

THE STYLE | My style is to shoot with available light, sometimes adding flash or another supplemental lighting for some of the portraits. When editing, I like to push contrast, luminance, detail, texture, and especially grain.
I want the photos to reflect how the environment feels and looks to me.

“My love for photography started back in high school when I took a photography class and filled in for the yearbook staff with sports photography.
I also had a short stint as a photography assistant, which means move that heavy equipment up several flights of stairs and back down again! After graduation, I moved on to college, got a full-time job in engineering, and moved south for new work opportunities. I married my artist wife, Von (The Tattooed Weaver), had two great kids (both adults now), and became the human to many, many dogs.

I credit my wife with getting me back into photography by getting me a DSLR for our 20th wedding anniversary.
At about the same time, I slowed down on the business travel and was able to practice more with the camera. It all came together during a disaster preparedness drill when I begged out of being on one of the squad trucks and was able to cover the event with my camera. I was hooked! Ever since then, I work to cover multiple departments and emergency services with the camera.

When not working on photography projects I am the director of product development for a local manufacturing company, a 1st Lieutenant with the Greeneville Emergency and Rescue Squad and Chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Committee for Greeneville/Greene County, TN Office of Emergency Management & HLS.”

Read the full article on Lens Magazine Issue #67