Arnold Doren

After accepting a teaching position in 1978 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Doren helped to shape the growing respect for photography as art. He educated thousands of students, participated in numerous exhibitions, operated a photography gallery and gained national and international recognition for his work. Often he introduced himself on the first day of class with My name is Doren and photography is my life. Doren's second wife, Caroline Cornish, 1924–2008, was a noted photographer who possessed organizational skills that provided stability for both of them while allowing Doren extra freedom to pursue a fine arts career.

A turning point occurred when he enrolled at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 where his philosophy and purpose in life were clarified by Minor White, one of the legendary professors. It was the deeply spiritual nature of Minor White along with his knowledge of poetry and Eastern philosophy that affected Doren. Minor put an emphasis on feeling as a way of knowing and realizing a multitude of meanings. A quote by Peter Layton describes Minor's teaching. " He created an atmosphere for constantly questioning ideas or responses." With discipline and sincerity, the students of Minor White could achieve an awareness called equivalence that was partly derived from Alfred Stieglitz's expressive theory. It was under Minor's influence that Doren began to photograph Americana Faces which was a documentation of the land and its people from 1960-2003. He photographed throughout the USA and returned frequently to the southwest. While working on the Americana Faces, he produced series on Italy, Greece, Scotland and China. Related to Doren's traditional photographs were the experimental works inspired by Minor White and by another influential teacher, Ralph Hattersley.

Arnold Doren (1935–2003) was an American photographer.

Arnold T. Dorenfeld, known as Doren, was born in Chicago, July 29, 1935, to Hy and Rose Dorenfeld. He grew up on the west side of Chicago, attending Howland Elementary School and Farragut High School (now Farragut Career Academy) (per classmate and friend Howard N. Allen, M.D.). An encounter with a Graflex camera while working on the high school newspaper (The Scroll) led to a dedicated life in photography. After joining the Navy in 1953, he was stationed at San Diego, CA and worked as a submariner running missions to Acapulco. News with Views was the name of the Navy newsletter which published his photographs.