For some, art is a hobby. For others, it’s a career. For Dr. Kenneth Malament, it’s a means of connecting his professional career and his favorite avocation. Malament, who began taking photographs as a junior in high school, says his love of photography has provided him a tangible connection to the past. His passion for the still image, which provides “a sense of history in [his] world” has allowed him to “review points in my life I wanted to always believe and always remember,” Malament explains.

Malament says that his art and his career as a dentist came to a surprising intersection when he was in graduate school. “Specialty students learned to do photography…We were obsessed with taking the best photograph and demonstrate our patients’ care,” While Malament says that he’s continued documenting all of his patients’ work in the intervening decades—a measure that’s enabled him to more closely follow their progress—his photography has expanded well beyond the scope of dental work. “I use photography as a means to communicate,” he says.

Malament, who cites Don Huntstein as one of his favorite photographers and studies the books of Thorsten Overgaard “almost every day,” says that the Leica SL2S camera he typically shoots with these days has really informed his process.

“I started with the Leica Q, then my first big purchase was a Leica SL2.” When Leica released its SL2S camera in December 2020, “that radically changed my shooting experience,” says Malament. “I can take pictures I never could take before without a flash.”

Malament says that today, he typically shoots without a tripod, and frequently relies on a 35-mm lens to capture his images. “I’m very focused on light. Light makes a very big difference. With the SL2S, I can shoot much more freely than I was able to before.”

Dr. Malament received his D.D.S. from N.Y.U. College of Dentistry and a specialty certificate and Master’s degree from Boston University School of Graduate Dentistry. Dr. Malament has a full time practice limited to prosthodontics in Boston that includes a dental laboratory with master dental technologists.

A Past-President of the American Board of Prosthodontics, he is a Clinical Professor at Tufts University and a Course Director in the postgraduate department of Prosthodontics. He presently serves as the Immediate President of the Academy of Prosthodontics and President-elect of the American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry. Dr. Malament is a Fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists, Academy of Prosthodontics, Greater New York Academy of Prosthodontics, and Northeastern Gnathological Society and a Past President of the Greater New York Academy of Prosthodontics, Northeastern Gnathological Society and the American Academy of Dental Science.