Kyle Cassidy

Kyle Cassidy (born October 31, 1966)[1] is an American photographer and videographer who lives in West Philadelphia. He holds a BA in English from Rowan University,[2] and also holds an MCSE.[3] He is the author of the book Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes.[4]

Kyle Cassidy
Cassidy in the Mojave desert
Born (1966-10-31) October 31, 1966[1]
Woodbury, New Jersey, U.S.[1]
EducationRowan University[2]
Known forAuthor, photographer
Notable work
Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes
Websitewww.kylecassidy.com

Contributions to technology

In 1993 Cassidy wrote SATURN: A Beginners Guide to Using the Internet, followed by Stickman's Way Cool Guide to Network Wizardry. Cassidy published two additional technology books, The Concise Guide to Enterprise Internetworking and Security and Introduction to Windows 2000 Network Administration. He co-wrote the paper "Can You Trust Your Email?" in 1993, warning of a flaw in the protocol used to deliver email, which could allow information to be forged.[5]

Contributions to photography
Publicity photo of Weird Al Yankovic
A publicity shot of band Ego Likeness by Cassidy

Cassidy's "Photo-a-Week" project[6] lets viewers into his life on a weekly basis starting on January 1, 2000.

His photographic style involves flights of fancy and a sense of humor. Laws of nature are applied inconsistently; people and objects are often levitating, and non sequiturs, whimsy, and cryptozoological intrusions are common. "I think the world in my photographs is a lot darker in many ways than the real world that people insulate themselves in, but it's also a lot funnier. My world is malevolent but humorous, as opposed to the real world which is malevolent and relentless, but is often packaged in a friendly box and rabbit ears," he said in a 2004 interview with A.D. Amorosi in the October issue of Art Matters. His images often explore themes of "truth" and "fiction". This culminated in his July 2006 show "Lies" at the Sol gallery in Philadelphia. "Photography," he says in the artist's statement for that show "is about lies just as much as it is about the truth."[7]

His work with cutters and homeless orphans presaged his 2004 fascination with American gun owners which led to the book, Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes,[8] which provided a view into the lives of a controversial culture, praised by advocates of both gun control and gun ownership. It was named by Amazon as both one of the ten best art books of 2007,[9] and as one of the 100 best books of 2007.[10]

Cassidy's approach to shooting portraits has resulted in book covers and album art. His portraits are often shot in context,[11][12] but in the early days of Occupy Wall Street he set up mini-portrait studios at both the NYC and Philly protests, to remove the context and focus on the individuality of the people attending. The photos were published at the Huffington Post.[13] He hung a show of the Occupy shots at the Bluestocking Gallery[14] in Manhattan. In another project, he took photographs of the scientists responsible for the discoveries of the New Horizons probe.[15]

In 2012, Cassidy released War Paint: Tattoo Culture & the Armed Forces, a book of photographs and interviews with tattooed veteran soldiers.[16]

In 2013, he became involved with the North Dakota Man Camp Project, a project to document the lives of oil workers in the area around the Bakken formation.[17] Photos from the project appeared in a Slate.com photo essay[18] and the open access edited collection The Bakken Goes Boom: Oil and the Changing Geographies of Western North Dakota, published by The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota.[19]

In October 2013, his poster and photo for the Curio Theatre Company[20]'s production of Romeo and Juliet[21] led to an interview published in the New York Times.[22]

In 2014, Cassidy's photo essay, "This Is What a Librarian Looks Like", based on photographs taken at an American Library Association event, was published on Slate.com.[23] He continued to photograph librarians and libraries in the following years, culminating in the publication of a 2017 photobook, This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information.[24]

Published work

He has written books on information technology, as well as working as contributing editor for Videomaker Magazine. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Barron's Magazine, Photographers Forum, The Huffington Post, Asleep by Dawn, Gothic Beauty and numerous other publications.[25][26]

His works include:

  • Cassidy, Kyle (2017). This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information. New York: Hachette Book Group. ISBN 9780316393980
  • Cassidy, Kyle (2012). War Paint: Tattoo Culture & the Armed Forces. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780764340864.
  • Amanda Palmer; Neil Gaiman; Kyle Cassidy; Beth Hommel (2009). Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence. New York: Eight Foot Books. ISBN 978-0-615-23439-7.
  • Cassidy, Kyle (2007). Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-89689-543-0.
  • Cassidy, Kyle (2001). Introduction to Windows 2000 Network Administration. Que Publishing. ISBN 0-7897-2419-7.
  • Cassidy, Kyle; Dries, Joseph Francis III (2000). The Concise Guide to Enterprise Internetworking and Security. Que Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7897-2420-5.
  • Cassidy, Kyle (1994). Stickman's Way Cool Guide to Network Wizardry. Glassboro, NJ: Rowan College Academic Computing Press.
  • Cassidy, Kyle (1994). SATURN: A Beginners Guide To Using the Internet. Glassboro, NJ: Rowan College Academic Computing Press.

References
  1. "Kyle Cassidy". October 13, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  2. Ponzi, Katie (May 2008). "Alumni Profile". Rowan Magazine. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
  3. "Kyle Cassidy Profile". informit.com. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
  4. Green, Penelope (May 15, 2008). "Gun Owners: A Portrait". The New York Times.
  5. Kyle Cassidy; A. Michael Berman Ph.D. (1993). Can You Trust Your Email? (PDF) (Technical report). Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  6. "Join PAW". Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  7. Cassidy, Kyle. "About Lies". Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  8. Cassidy, Kyle (2007). Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-89689-543-0.
  9. "Best Books of 2007: Top 10 Editors' Picks: Arts & Photography". Amazon.com; accessed April 5, 2010.
  10. "Best Books of 2007: Editors' Top 100", Amazon.com (page 3); accessed April 5, 2010.
  11. writers at work
  12. gun owners in their homes
  13. Occupy Wall Street, huffingtonpost.com, October 17, 2011.
  14. "Comments". November 10, 2011. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
  15. Teicher, Jordan G. (July 20, 2015). "Kyle Cassidy photographs the New Horizons science team". Slate.com. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  16. Cassidy, Kyle (June 13, 2012). "War Paint: The Intimate Stories Behind Military Veterans' Tattoos". Philadelphia Weekly. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  17. Dalrymple, Amy (February 11, 2013). "UND: Life in the man camps". The Jamestown Sun. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  18. Teicher, Jordan G. (March 14, 2016). "Kyle Cassidy photographs the homes of oil workers in North Dakota in The Bakken Goes Boom". Slate.com. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  19. Caraher, William, and Kyle Conway, eds. (2016). The Bakken Goes Boom. Grand Forks, North Dakota: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota.
  20. "Curio Theatre Company". Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  21. "Romeo and Juliet". Curiotheatre.org. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  22. Erik Piepenburg (October 4, 2013). "Maximum Shakespeare, Behind the Poster: Romeo and Juliet". The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 4, 2013. Curio enlisted two local artists — the painter Elizabeth Gallagher and the photographer Kyle Cassidy — to design promotional artwork for the show. Ms. Gallagher, a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the daughter of Aetna Gallagher, a founding member of the company, created a colorfully feminine illustration featuring two women dressed in period gowns and holding hands. Mr. Cassidy took a darker route with his image of two underwear-clad women cuddled in bed and surrounded by candles and a gun.
  23. Teicher, Jordan G. (February 21, 2014). "This Is What a Librarian Looks Like", Slate.com; accessed December 26, 2016.
  24. "This Is What a Librarian Looks Like", Hachette Book Group; accessed December 26, 2016.
  25. "Profile for Kyle Cassidy". Amazon.com. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  26. Wells, Steven (August 1, 2007). "Friendly Fire". Philadelphia Weekly. Archived from the original on May 29, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
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