Born in 1960, is an American photographer based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York. His work is closely associated with long-term engagement with urban environments and with the photobook as a primary medium. Over a period of more than twenty-five years, he has published five monographs, and his photographs are held in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.

He earned a BFA from Cooper Union in 1982 and continued his studies at the New School for Social Research. Early in his career, he worked as a printer for several photographers associated with Magnum Photos. He is a recipient of a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

His best-known project, Invisible City, was produced between 1983 and 1988 and documents life in New York City during the 1980s, particularly the Lower East Side. Made while he was living in a deteriorating East Village apartment building, the work draws directly from his immediate surroundings and was later published as a photobook, which was named among the notable photobooks of 2014 by The New York Times and Time. Related images from the same period appear in Night Walk (2014).

Subsequent books include The Geometry of Innocence (2001), which examines shifting social structures and urban spaces; A New History of Photography: The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads (2008), reflecting on photographic history and image-making; and Oculus (2011), an investigative book exploring perception, light, and interpretation.

Reference:
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), English edition. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Schles