I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY in a neighborhood called Brighton Beach, which is located in the southern most tip of Brooklyn sharing the boardwalk with Coney Island. 
 
Growing up I spent a lot of time in Coney Island.  My Grandmother lived there from the time when I was born until my 13th birthday.  Coney Island was at that time a very special place.  It was a real neighborhood where everyone knew each other and everyone watched out for all the kids.  Aside from going to the beach every weekend, going to Steeplechase Park, the Aquarium, eating at Nathan’s and spending an overnight with my Grandmother were always special days. 
 
Brighton Beach on the other was not as eventful as Coney Island.  Here the kids were rough and I found myself getting picked on, beaten up by the bigger kids and always too small to play.  Concrete was not kind to my knees and elbows.  
 
Well, one day my mother had enough of me getting beaten up so she took me for boxing lessons.  I must have been quite a sight.  I was bout 6 years old, a skinny little kid with adult size boxing gloves that weighed almost as much as I did.  But in the end I learned how to box, beat up the bully who was always picking on me and lived out the rest of my days in the neighborhood with a bit more confidence and street smarts!
 
My schooling years were not very fruitful as I was categorized as a “slow” learner.  As it turns out I was dyslexic and ADD.  So all I had that gave me any confidence or at least a challenge was to play sports and take pictures.  These were two areas where I was not judged with the possibility of a failing grade.  These were two things I enjoyed and did them with passion.
 
Over the years I joined little league, basketball league, the fencing team at the Y, the handball team and track team in Jr. High School and any other team that would have me.  I was terrible!!!  In little league I played the outfield.  That is where the coaches would put the kids who had poor skills, the better kids pitched, played catcher and infield.  I am so happy to see that is not the case any more.  In basketball I spent most of the time on the bench and got the nick name “Splinter”.  In fencing I looked good in the gear but lost every match I fenced in.  Wow, that is a lightening fast sport.  Handball and track I was on the B teams.  I played, I ran but still struggled to be a bigger part of the team.  I was 13 years old when I finally gave up on all the above sports.  I just came to the realization that I was not cut out to play these sports the way I really would like to play them.  And that was to be dominant in at least one sport that I truly loved, baseball. 
 
When I was about 10 my Dad taught me how to swim.  We lived by the beach so my Mother was after him to teach me so that I would not drown if I went to the beach to play in the water.  My Dad was a swimmer on his high school team and was the Brooklyn backstroke champion when he was in high school.  So I was taught by someone who knew what he was talking about.  After the lessons he would talk about all the guys on his team, the swim meets and what took place back then.  I always listened as if I was living that moment.  One message he taught me was, always work on my form and speed will come naturally.  I took those words to heart and would swim everyday with that in mind.
 
I spent most of my time swimming and playing in the water at a beach club called the Brighton Beach Baths.  I fell in love with the water.  It offered me an open space where I could float, relax, play with a mask and snorkel, swim with fins and feel like a shark. There were no adults in this world I was the king in my own little universe. It was my world.  And I made it a quite, peaceful and playful world.  I would spend hours doing all these things in that pool, not knowing it, but mastering the art and science of movement and hydrodynamics.
 
That summer I was approached by a beach lifeguard named Sandy White.  He would come to the club every morning and swim laps.  He was a butterflyer for Lincoln High School and for the JCH swim club in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.  I was fascinated every time I watched him swim the butterfly.  He was graceful and when he swam it looked so easy and effortless.  Sandy watched me swim and invited me to try out for the JCH swim team. 
  
I loved swimming, the competition and all the people and friends I made throughout the 8 years that I swam. 
 
When I attended Lincoln High School I was a gold metal winner at the PSAL NY City Championships for 3 years in a row in the backstroke event and one year in the individual medley.  In the 3 years I swam in high school I never lost a backstroke race.
 
I went to Bethany College in West Va. for 2 years on half a scholarship.  If my grades were better I would have gotten the other half of the scholarship.  In my sophomore year I went to the NCAA Swimming Nationals and placed 6th in the 100 Backstroke, 6th in the 200 Backstroke, 9th in the 200 IM and 10th as a member of the Medley Relay.  That year I was a 4 time NCAA All American Swimmer. 
 
I learned a lot about myself at Bethany through the guidance of my swimming coach Skip Applin.  Learning how to win, learning from the mistakes I made during competition, etc.  But one lesson always stayed with me that I learned from Coach Applin was, “Always compete against yourself.”  This way as you improve you are always winning.  You will always find competition where you can win and always find competition where you will be challenged and may lose.  But if you have gotten a little bit better or learned something from the experience, then that day you have something to feel good about. 
 
At the end of my sophomore year Bethany canceled the swimming program.  I then transferred to California State Univ. at Chico.  I had to sit out one season of swimming because of the transfer, those were and still are the rules.  In my senior year at the NCAA Swimming Nationals I placed 2nd (silver medal) as a member of the medley relay, 10th in the 100 yard backstroke and 9th in the 200 yard backstroke with our team finishing in 3rd place at the NCAA Nationals.  When all was said and done I was a 7 time NCAA All American Swimmer.  My claim to fame!
 
While in college I majored in Physical Education with the thought of becoming a swimming coach.  At that same time I was also developing (no pun intended) a deeper interest in photography as well.  After graduating I taught one semester of junior high school and realized that teaching was not for me.  I then came back to NY and decided to follow my passion in photography. 
 
I got my first job as an assistant in a commercial studio that specialized in fashion and still life photography.  They had 6 studios, 3 fashion and 3 still life.  I worked every day with all different photographers as well as different photographic equipment that ranged from 35mm cameras to the large 8x10 field cameras. 
 
It was a very exciting business and time for me.  I was meeting and photographing the top models in the industry as well as meeting and working with celebrities.  Eventually I went out on my own and freelanced in the fashion and advertising part of the business. 
 
I changed my name from Eric Gerstein to Eric Douglas, Douglas is my middle name.  I thought it was catchy and had a nice ring to it.  I had no idea that the famous actor Kurt Douglas had a son who's name was Eric and as it turns out he was also a photographer.  I found that out one day when cold calling to solicit business form an advertising agency.
 
To my surprise one day my call was put through to the art director without hesitation after I identified myself.  When the art director got on the phone she jumped right into the conversation and started asking me how I was, how is my father doing, how is the photography business, etc.  I looked at the phone like she was nuts.  Did she know me, I thought?  I played along with her and answered all the questions she put forth.  Then I said, "Do you know me?"  She responded, "Yes, this is Eric.  Eric Douglas, right?"  I said yes, "This is Eric Douglas."  She said, "The photographer, Eric Douglas?"  I said, "Yes, the photographer, Eric Douglas."  She then said, "Kurt Douglas' son, Eric Douglas?"  I said, "Oh, no, no, this is Eric Douglas, Sid Gerstein's son!"  Needless to say she did not find the humor in all this and I could never get an appointment to see her to show my work.
 
So, after “pounding the pavement” for some time I landed an account with Koos Van Den Akker couture.  Koos was and still is a brilliant designer.  During one of our meetings Koos mentioned that he was about to embark on an advertising campaign for his couture collection to run in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine.  The concept was entertaining, fun and brilliant.  He would ask his clients/friends to appear in the advertisement wearing a piece from his collection.  Under the picture would be a little blurb about who they are, what they do and what they are wearing.  The campaign was called, “FRIENDS OF KOOS.”  I was commissioned to do the photography and the rest was history.  These ads were a big hit in the industry and both Koos and I gained world recognition.  Koos and I worked together well and from there I was commissioned to do many more ads for his collection that appeared in French Vogue, The New York Times and other publications.
 
In short my work has been published in French Vogue, The New York Times, Interview magazine, Wall Street Journal, Avenue, W and various other publications.  I have photographed celebrities, musicians, artists and some very nice everyday people. 
 
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time out of your busy schedule to view my work.  I hope you enjoy looking at my images as much as I enjoy creating them!  If you need to contact me please do so at ericgerstein@aol.com.  
 
Eric