Speaking about Ken

Ken Reynolds' art touched the lives and works of many other artists. Here some of them speak about their relationship to Ken and his photographs.

Lev Dodin

Artistic Director, Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg, Sept. 6, 2021:

“It was with deep sorrow and pain that I learned about the death, the passing from this life, of my great friend, the great artist, Ken Reynolds. I call him an artist, not a photographer, because Ken was not a photographer. He did not reflect life, did not reflect theatre productions – because most of all he loved theatre performances – he transformed life and performances. Everything that he shared was touched by the power of his artistic imagination. So, once again I say: Ken was a great artist. We are going to miss Ken at our rehearsals. Ken and I met at the end of the 1980s and, to tell the truth, we became very good friends. I was always amazed by his art, and he liked – one might even say he loved – our theatre. On my desk in my study I have a big volume of photographs devoted to the Maly Drama Theatre. He published this book himself in two copies, one for me, one for himself. It was his gift to me. I and the theatre will do everything in our power to republish this book in a large print run. Dear Ken, this is the least that I can do for your memory. I am certain that many will do much more in the name of your memory. Your memory will not leave us. What is most important: You will continue to live in your artistic creations. Forgive me. Farewell.”

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Henrietta Yanovskaya &
Kama Ginkas

HENRIETTA, artistic director, Young Spectator Theatre, KAMA, director, Moscow, September 8, 2021:

"We have had the most tender love for Ken for nearly 30 years. For nearly 30 years, he was one of our closest, most devoted friends. Devoted not just to us personally, but loyal to our Moscow Young Spectator Theatre. He loved our performances, although he did not understand a single word of what was spoken on stage. Some incredible intuition allowed him to grasp their essence and define them in his exhilarating, unforgettable photographs. He always captured and preserved in them the heart, the true meaning and the emotional core of each performance. His love for theatre in general, his knowledge of what was most important and where he might find it – all the finest productions in Soviet, post-Soviet and European theatre in general – was amazing. His mobility, courage, and determination were inexplicable. Ken traveled, flew, even boated to our performances to watch and photograph them time and again. Not only did he fly to Moscow for each of our premieres – and those at other theatres – but he was also with us in Georgia, Lithuania, and Germany. He was with us in Finland. He came to Paris, to Avignon, and, can you imagine, he flew with us to America three times. One time he came straight from the plane to Times Square, where we were performing K.I. from 'Crime'. Sitting amidst the audience and once again photographing the nuances of this performance, he suddenly lost consciousness. After all, by then he was no longer a young man. The actress Oksana Mysina nearly had to carry him directly from the performance site to the green room. There we lay him on some boards. After he regained consciousness, he gave us a guilty smile. The next day he once again was photographing K.I.
Ken flew to Prague with his wife Elizabeth, and we took walks with them, the long, tall Ken towering over us. It was unforgettable.
Ken usually arrived, carrying with him a huge amount of the heaviest equipment, and entering the theatre rather disheveled, gray-haired and radiant. It seemed as though he were a Santa Claus who came and brought us gifts. Indeed his every arrival was a gift for us.
Ken's departure is the departure, we do not fear this word, of a saintly man."

Robert Sturua

Artistic director, Rustaveli Theatre, Tbilisi, Georgia, Sept. 1, 2021:

"I am deeply saddened! Strange, just recently I was thinking about Ken! How imperceptibly, without words, quietly and mysteriously, he changed me. He made me better... Surprisingly, I didn't see him often... I probably often cheated on him, forgetting his radiance (what can you do - life!) And now as the end nears, as you convince yourself, afraid that there certainly is something there, you become calmer because soon you will meet everyone whom you loved, and you will see all those who helped you stay on your feet (alas, not always - after all: life!)... Then you scold yourself for your self-confidence - because maybe you will see that He is There, and once again you are in another, though not better, Place! But come what may! Ken, farewell, or hopefully - I will see you soon!.."

Rimas Tuminas

Artistic director, Vakhtangov Theatre, Moscow, Sept. 8, 2021:

"You could always expect a masterpiece from Ken Reynolds because he wrapped his genius in a mantle of love. Devastated. An artist has passed."

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Yury Butusov

Director, Moscow and St. Petersburg, September 8, 2021

"I would say that the world rests upon people like Ken. He was a man genuinely, selflessly, passionately in love with theatre, in other words, with life itself. I believe that theatre is made by people passionately in love with life. Indeed, that is what he was. Theatre performances over time evaporate, vanish, and die, and Ken understood that like no one else. At first, it surprised me that he shot without pause, his camera clicked non-stop. Only later did I understand that his goal was to capture ALL of the show, not just selected successful moments and mises-en-scene but all of the scenic narrative, its ambiance, its rhythm and spirit. To save a piece of theatre for ages to come. In a sense this undertaking is a losing game. But Ken, a true theatre maniac, like all of us in theatre, just could not help it. It was his mission. Indeed, that’s what he was like. A selfless, crazy idealist. During the short (and not so short) encounters and conversations that I and my wife Maria had with Ken, we became truly fond of him. We have five big beautiful photobooks on our bookshelf - Ken made his home in our home forever."

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Ken's translator, Moscow, Sept. 7, 2021

"How tirelessly Ken traveled. I was always amazed that that he did that alone! Not only to Russia, but throughout Europe – to see his favorite symphony orchestra or a concert. How he watched theatre performances for hours on end, noticing special moments, capturing them in his shots. How he was able to see the most important things, the main thing, the essential things, not understanding the language! How he loved theatre... We had marvelous meetings, and I have photographs and an English children's book about a tiger who came to tea that remain as keepsakes. Blessed be the memory of this marvelous man!"

Maria Nikolaeva

Boris Yukhananov

Artistic director Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Moscow, Sept. 3, 2021:

"Ken Reynolds died on Sunday August 29th.

This British photographer, who lived just a stone's throw from the legendary Scottish city of Edinburgh, was passionate about Russian theatre, shooting productions by Kama Ginkas, Lev Dodin, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Yury Lyubimov, Valery Fokin, Pyotr Fomenko, Rimas Tuminas, Robert Sturua, Yury Butusov and many, many others.
He fell in love with the work of Boris Yukhananov from the moment he saw the legendary Garden in Edinburgh in 1995. Decades later, he flew to different cities of the world to photograph Drillalians, Octavia. Trepanation, and The Constant Principle. He published numerous books and albums.
He sincerely loved the theater with all his heart, and this love is reflected in his amazing photographs. Blessed be the memory of this artist."

Alexander Bakshi & Lyudmila Bakshi

ALEXANDER, composer, LYUDMILA, soprano, Moscow. Sept. 7, 2021:

“We met Ken at a very happy moment in our lives. Such moments are unique and remain in the memory forever. While working on our production, “Polyphony of the World,” all the participants suddenly turned into one big family - musicians, actors, painters, and backstage hands... A feeling of kinship and unity arose. Ken became a member of this family. It seemed that he emitted light and saw the world differently than we did. Details that no one noticed showed up in his photographs. He gave us the opportunity to see people and objects through his luminous eyes. And now this man of light has gone into the light and dissolved in it. But on sunny days we will feel his presence. Rest in peace.”

Photo copyright Ken Reynolds. A scene from The Polyphony of the World, composed by Alexander Bakshi, directed by Kama Ginkas, 2000.

Oksana Mysina

Actress, director, Chania, Greece, Moscow, Russia, Sept. 11, 2021:

The portrait you see here was made by the unique English theatre artist-photographer Kenneth George Dennis Reynolds, a man of exquisite soul, a friend of mine and John Freedman's. Dear Ken Reynolds, who truly became a talisman of Kama Ginkas' production K.I. from 'Crime', in which I play Katerina Ivanovna from Crime and Punishment. Ken left us on August 29. He left us, I trust, for better worlds. He was deserving of them like few are!

In half an hour, a memorial service will begin at North Queensferry Church, in Ken's hometown, near Edinburgh. It will be streamed, because for many theatres around the world, Ken was the chronicler of their work. His photographs were not snapshots. Everyone was a masterpiece. In the beginning, every photo was developed individually but eventually, like all photographers he adopted digital photography. He created a gallery of images for every performance. He published books in two or three copies, almost always at his own expense, and gave them to directors and actors. Of Russian theatres, he loved to shoot the productions of Lev Dodin, Robert Sturua, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Yury Butusov, Konstantin Raikin, Dmitry Krymov, Boris Yukhananov, Henrietta Yanovskaya and, of course, Kama Ginkas!

On this sad day of mourning, Ken emerges even more clearly in my mind, always smiling, a man who always seemed to be dancing inside, always ready to get up and go. It seemed there were no barriers for him! Indeed, Ken always breathed easily!

K. I. from" Crime' traveled to half of the world, we played even more on tour than in Moscow, in all about 400 performances. Two-thirds of them in different parts of the world! Ken became an integral part of our team. He flew to Tbilisi when a war broke out there and all the Russian productions for a planned, big festival were canceled. Not Kama Ginkas and Henrietta Yanovskaya, however! We flew to Tbilisi from Moscow, and Ken flew in from Great Britain! He twice flew to America to film our tours! Ken loved to capture our performance in its various phases of development. He was fascinated to see how the work transformed over time. He stopped moments magically! Ken was truly an artist and Poet. His shots conveyed elusive electric charges!

Our second long tour in New York took place during the winter. A piercing wind blew from the ocean as snow fell. The city came to a stand still. Spectators stood in long lines , hoping to get a ticket, relying on force majeure, for not everyone that night could get to 42nd Street, near Times Square.

At the last second, Ken, rather rumpled, appeared in the hall, naturally with his camera in tow. Literally as the Russians say, like snow on your head! Straight off the plane. Only God knows how he got through the snowdrifts.

Close to the middle of the performance, he is sitting among the spectators at the white memorial table. He is shooting as always. Suddenly his head drops on the table with a thud. "Did he die?" the thought flashes through my mind! Ken is dead or is dying, right now, here in front of the audience, in the midst of the show! Two steps away from me! What do I do? I myself am ready to die of horror, but I sit down next to him, continuing to perform and, at the same time, attempting to interact directly with Ken. I ask him questions (in the words of Dostoevsky). I wonder if maybe he fell asleep. Road fatigue. Jetlag. He doesn't respond. And he doesn't seem to be breathing. He's obviously unconscious. Oh my God! Continuing to remain in character, I take him gently by the arm, while his other hand is suddenly clasped by a tall gentleman in a checkered woolen shirt, someone from the audience. We carefully lead Ken out through the door to the backstage area. As I finished the performance, my head was pounding: "Is he dead? Is he alive? Lord, help me! Kenchik, dear!"

After the curtain calls, I race backstage to our crew, and I hear the voices of Kama and Ken laughing happily! He's ali-i-i-ive!!!! Now pink in the face, and having downed a cognac, Ken was in good company and was quite exuberant! Almost, as if nothing had happened! Perhaps he looked a little confused, but nothing more. I myself could not believe what had happened ...

It was a miracle!!! Angels undoubtedly sat on his shoulders! Fred Kimball is the name of the man who broke through the fourth wall and saved Ken and me in this truly extreme situation. As it turned out later, Fred was just a common screenwriter for Al Pacino. And a well-known theatre director. Unlike the general public, he understood what had happened. We all headed out to a bar that evening to celebrate Ken Reynolds' happy resurrection! Oh, how much joy there was!!!

Dear, beloved Ken. Thank you for your most kind heart. For your Talent. For your altruism. It was always a joy to talk to you, to be next to you, my dear, wonderful man! May all the Angels in the world set out now on a new journey!

You are a lover of adventures! Isn't that so, sir?

May your road be bright!

With love and tenderness - your Oksana - Katerina Ivanovna, from Dostoevsky by way of Daniil Gink...

Gabriele Tuminaite

Artistic director Maly Theater of Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 3, 2021:

"Theatre is the bliss of a moment that disappears, and consists only of our memories and such works as those of Ken Reynolds."

GRIGORY KOZLOV

Director, St. Petersburg, Sept. 13, 2021

Dear Friends,

Ken Reynolds was a man truly in love with theatre. In the 'nineties, a difficult and desperate time, he worked side-by-side with us, making his brilliant photographs. Not only do they remind us of those performances, but of Ken himself.

Even though the times were difficult, Ken was always a source of transcendent light, always ready to have our back, and to give us his love and support. All his craft was built upon love — honest and compassionate.

Goodbye, Ken, our friend and comrade, our Sun, our irreplaceable artist.

Rest in peace.

Yours, Grigory Kozlov

GINKAS AND YANOVSKAYA BIRTHDAY WISHES, 2018

Ken had a deep connection to Kama Ginkas and Henrietta Yanovskaya and the feelings were mutual. On the occasion of Ken's 80th birthday in May 2018, Kama and Henrietta asked me to translate a birthday wish and send it to Ken. Here is what they wrote.

Dear Ken,
We just discovered your letter, and we are very happy to see that you are so young and so enthusiastic about going to see new performances, and to make them a part of history! Because your photos are wonderful, artistic documents of theatre.

You have an incredible sense of things. Amazingly, you always know what part of the world and which country to go to (especially if it is Russia or the post-Soviet space). You have the ability to anticipate the theatres, even the smallest, where new art is being born or might be born. You immediately see what is unique and inherent to a specific director and specific performances. Theatre is an art that evaporates. To capture moods that shift every second, and to grasp an actor's emotion that has just come into being is to stop and capture for posterity the moments of life and the moments of theatre. You are always up to that task. And that is why we love you. Despite your less than youthful age, you manage to fly to premieres in Moscow, New York, Warsaw, Budapest, St. Petersburg and... What city have we not met you in! And what are the cities and countries you have visited without us! I will never forget New York. We performed “K.I. from ’Crime’” for the entire month of January in a basement near Times Square. You arrived from London (I’m guessing it was an eight hour flight) and came directly to us from the airport to photograph a production that you had seen and photographed in Moscow, Helsinki, and many other cities that we will not list. Now you are sitting at a table amidst the spectators and photographing “KI” for the thousandth time. And you suddenly get sick. Very sick. Oksana Mysina, the one and only actor in this production, continues her performance while leading you off stage.

I have just now staged an opera written by Verdi, and the title is - what do you think? - “Macbeth” of course! Your great photos of my Finnish “Macbeth” helped Sergei Barkhin and me explain to the theatre what we wanted in our new production.

Of course, every one who saw your photos - the theatre’s artistic director, the financial director, the technicians, the singers and so on - were mightily impressed. Could it be any other way?! Barkhin and I had no doubt that your photos would make a strong impression on all these people.

One could say the same about all of your work. Through your photos you are able to capture and pass on the aesthetics, the emotional riches, the genre and the living breath of a performance.

Greetings to Elizabeth!

We hope you are feeling better now.
With best wishes,
Kama and Henrietta

GARRY D. IRVINE REMEMBERS

Following is a text by Ken's neighbor and technical collaborator. Garry not only helped Ken organize his prodigious archive, he has helped discover and recover numerous photos that Ken left on stray flash cards and in his iPhone. Two of those photos you see to the left - rather extraordinary shots, if I say so myself: selfies! And what great selfies! The one on top shows Ken in his room in North Queensferry getting ready for a trip. The one below appears to show him in one of the many hotel rooms he occupied over the years. Incredible stuff! Finally, below, the third photo, is a shot of Garry himself. Not taken by Ken, but an excellent image nonetheless.

My name is Garry Irvine and I had the pleasure of being Ken Reynold’s Scottish neighbour from when Elizabeth and he moved to North Queensferry, over 30 years ago. I was a Principal Communications Consultant with Hewlett-Packard and retired in 2003 after having lived and travelled all over the world.

After retirement, I worked as an IT consultant and visited Ken many times helping him get to grips with the Mac technology of iMacs, iPads, iPhones, and lately MacBooks. During his travels, he wanted to stay in touch so his iPhone and MacBook were his companions – ensuring they were up to task was another small challenge!

I counselled him on backups of his photographs that he was very keen to ensure happened. He didn't fully understand digital files and filing of his photographs, and as I have been working in technology since graduating in 1966, it was relatively straightforward to advise him on the kit he bought. Naturally, as digital cameras got better and better, the size of the photographs increased dramatically so over the years we added even more storage units. He was also determined to retain the original RAW images stored in the camera's memory cards, like his innumerable negatives. In fact, I don't believe he ever reused a memory card! That is why there are many copies of his work throughout his iMac and storage units.

Many long evenings resulted in me watching the sun's evening rays disappear from my house across the street while sitting with Ken sorting out his file system(s). I was successful in keeping his system running as it was continually being stressed with his photo applications and photographs always wanting more space! He was genuinely grateful of course, and often came across with a bottle of wine to thank me! He even gave me a copy of the books that I helped him build. The most fun we had was in understanding and sorting out the pictures for The Drillalians Episode 1, by Yukhanananov. Just one of the many theatre directors I was introduced to through Ken.

I only need to look at a picture of Ken and hear him explaining the reasons why he liked a particular image. I also played with a few of his black and white images to illustrate to him a way of transferring pictures to Toby Long – his faithful friend in the photographic studio in Edinburgh. Going by the dates on these pictures, this was probably late 2015 and early 2016.

Music, of course, was Ken's first love... so yes, keeping his video and music system going was also appreciated by Ken. He had top quality audio equipment that was essential for his sophisticated taste, but that meant the equipment itself was getting older too and took a bit more effort in keeping them going. Fortunately, the challenge most often was in sorting out the cabling which occasionally got messed up. Naturally, my favourite radio programme is now Classic FM.

Helping Ken was a pleasure. A single ring on his doorbell and walking in resulted in "Hi Garry, Ken is upstairs – do you want a cuppa?". Yes, that was the kind of hospitality that I was used to growing up in Galloway in the southwest of Scotland. The other reason why it was a pleasure, was because Ken reminded me so much of my eldest brother Ronnie, who passed away many years ago – the same look and positive attitude.

Indeed, I miss Ken, and I still give the doorbell a single ring and walk in, and expect him to be sitting in his chair listening to music! May he rest in peace.

STATEMENT FROM RUSSIAN CONSULATE

Garry D. Irvine brought this post from the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh to my attention. I made a screenshot of the post, which is available on the Consulate's Facebook page.

PORTRAIT OF KEN

Here is another gem brought to my attention by Garry D. Irvine - a painting of Ken by the portrait artist Lesley GIlbert. Her work is available for view and purchase at Gallery Dundee.

This photo of Kama Ginkas and Ken Reynolds was taken by me at the opening of an exhibit of Kama's work at the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow.)

KAMA GINKAS ON KEN REYNOLDS' ARCHIVE TAKING UP RESIDENCE AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

I wrote to Kama Ginkas on Oct. 13, 2023, the instant that I learned that, after a decade or more of searching, two years of them quite intense following Ken's death, we learned we had found a home for Ken's archive in the Special Collections at Northwestern University. Within moments, Kama answered me, and I believe his response, which follows in its entirety, must be shared.

As for Ken... I always adored him. Just like everyone who met him for even a minute. He was some kind of an omnipresent Santa Claus, whether it was winter or summer. He was always slightly red-cheeked. And he always had a gentle, childish, open smile. I have never met anyone like him in my life. That's to say nothing about his unbounded love for the Theater. It didn't matter where a theater was located, Ken was always on time! For some reason, he always knew in advance about all the premieres, whether they be in Moscow, in France, or, if I’m not mistaken, Iran. How he loved and knew opera! Naturally, he always attended all the great premieres of the great opera houses in Europe. Geta and I are proud that he fell in love with us and our institution called MTYuZ. He never missed a single one of our premieres. And how he chased our performances all over the world, in Finland, in Lithuania, in New York, etc., etc.! How many times in different places around the world did he shoot “K.I. from 'Crime'”! Oksana [Mysina], of course, remembers it: As soon as he arrived in New York, he immediately came to Times Square to the basement where we were playing “K.I.” in order to shoot it again! And how he fell unconscious in the middle of the show, among the audience, and how, without stopping her performance, Oksana carried him out of the performance space. There is a silly, ironic expression: “A miracle in feathers.” That is Ken! I say it with no irony whatsoever: he was a MIRACLE! And at the same time, he really was "in feathers" - thanks to his nondescript gray beard, and his languid, curly hair lightly wafting in the wind. Why do I say "in the wind?" Because I remember him in a kind of preposterous raincoat, walking briskly through the MTYuZ yard... On one shoulder he has a bag with his cameras, and on the other there is something else very heavy, and at the same time very shiny! Of course, I am happy to hear that his huge archive, which occupied an entire floor in his house, ended up in such a wonderful, prestigious place. Congratulations to all of us! Kama.