Pieter Estersohn

I moved to Red Hook in 2010 after looking at over 100 homes in the extended area. I wanted a counterpoint to bringing my son up as a single father in Manhattan and felt that Red Hook offered all of the qualities I was looking for. After having all of the realtors accuse me of not being serious, I fell upon our home, which was built in 1839, the year photography was invented in both France and England, and it was on a street that shared a name with my dad.

I am a photographer and author, having worked on 60 or so books on architecture, design, and travel. The present book, due out in April 2024, is called Back to the Land, A New Way of Life in the Country, published by Rizzoli and it focuses on agriculture in the Hudson River Valley, with a focus on diversity of practices as well as diversity of the populations entering the field. This was a deep dive for me, but ultimately a project that I am very proud of. I started writing about photography for Interview Magazine while still in college but pivoted taking pictures once I graduated. Now I enjoy both creative approaches and being able to express a subject holistically with words and images.

I first became involved with The Elmendorph and Historic Red Hook when I was doing initial research on my home, which dates to 1839, as well as my last book, Life Along the Hudson, which documents 35 Livingston-built houses and landscapes in our immediate community.

I have an insatiable curiosity about architectural history. When in the area, and while I'm traveling for work, I am always doing my best to discover interesting buildings or architecture that connect the historical dots for me.

Dragging my son to house museums and historic places was challenging, but he just came back from university and told me that being able to differentiate between the different Georgian periods of architecture came in handy for a political history class that he was taking, so I guess I have hope that all the visits might eventually pay off!