Allison Michael Orenstein to Present Charles Arnold Lecture

Award-winning portrait photographer Allison Michael Orenstein is delivering a public talk as part of the RIT Photo School's Charles Arnold Lecture Series.

The hybrid event is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18. It can be attended in-person in Xerox Auditorium (James E. Gleason Hall, room 2580) or via Zoom (registration required).

Interpreting services can be requested through myaccess.rit.edu.

The lecture series brings speakers with experience, talent, insight and discovery to the creative and intellectual culture of RIT in honor of Professor Charles Arnold’s contribution to the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and world of photography.

About Allison Michael Orenstein

Orenstein (also known as A/O) is an award-winning, New York-based portrait photographer. One of her many personal projects, “The Queer Artists Series,” focuses on more than 50 iconic portraits of the thriving queer community in New York City since 2015. She started a new body of work in September 2020, “Women of The Grove: A Lesbian Portrait." This is an ongoing personal project highlighting the legacy of the lesbian community in Cherry Grove, N.Y., which the anthropologist Esther Newton called, “America's first gay and lesbian town.” 

A/O shoots both commercially and editorially. Some her clients include:  Ford, Walgreens, U.S. Bank, Delta, Knoll, Walmart, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Food & Wine, BlackBook, New York Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Interview, Artforum, The Guardian, Spin, Real Simple, People, The Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Town & Country.

She has been in several group shows and had a solo exhibition entitled “California” at the College of Art and Design in Wilmington, Del.  A/O has won many competitions and awards over the course of her career. She is a four-time winner of the AI-AP American Photography Competition (2021, 2020, 2015 and 2012); Grand Prize Winner PDN Faces Competition (2016); Award of Excellence, Communication Arts Photography Annual (2015).

Patricia Clarkson portrait by Allison Michael Orenstein