This image was shot from the third floor looking down at a crosswalk. I composed it so that a loop is visually implied that is cut off by the right edge of the frame, but one’s mind connects the dots, so to speak, and closes the loop. I overexposed this in the camera to get a sense of brightness and saturation from the scene. This is an idea I want to return to.
(Robert Englebright)
I appreciate the way the city has designed individual subway stations and integrated public art into the spaces. Not all of them are home runs, but many are just wonderful. The 74th Street/Broadway subway station in Queens, which connects several lines to one another, is a good example. The station atrium is a very open and voluminous entrance into and exit out of the subway. Since the train lines are both under and above ground the station is very vertical. I believe the design takes advantage of that verticality. A nice touch is the installation of stained glass panels. That is what you are seeing in this photograph, which is part of my Second Impressions work.
(Robert Englebright)
This is one of the subway stations I pass on the train almost daily on my way into Manhattan. I had not been into it because until recently I had no reason to. I was immediately struck by the light that comes through the windows and colored glass of a 3 story atrium. I took a few pictures, but will be returning there over the next few days to see what more I can explore at this sight. I cropped this image in order for it to fit into a format for my home page, but I’m not convinced it’s the ideal cropping.
(Robert Englebright)
I saw this image in my archives when I was playing around in Lightroom (I love what Adobe has done with Lightroom) and it tickled me. This bicycle seems like it would be the perfect urban bike: rugged; old enough and beat up enough that nobody would steal it; a serious lock; and a rack for carrying small things. The seat is a bit beat up. I liked the idea of shooting it at night with flash, as if I had snuck up on a rare animal in the jungle.
(Robert Englebright)
I went to Times Square to see what I could render and interpret using the artificial light of Times Square as well as the bright colors. It was too much in the middle of the day to do anything with the artificial lights but I was able to get a sense of color through this image. But I will need to go to Times Square many many more times before I feel like I have really dug up something unique. I like this image partly for its strong vertical dynamic. This can also be seen in the Second Impressions gallery of my website.
(Robert Englebright)
I went to the park across the street from my apartment to see what I could find in the late afternoon light of Spring. Some potential scenarios that I thought may work for this body of images, like shooting soccer players during a game, didn’t pan out. Once I got the images back and processed them there was not enough ambiguity in the forms and the activity they were engaged in. It was obvious, even abstracted, that the figures in the frame were playing soccer. This was a concrete activity that grounded the figures too much in reality. But I did get some nice graphic imagery by working with the tension among figures, shadows, and light. Here is one. Check out the entire body of work so far: Second Impressions
(Robert Englebright)
After a short hiatus from writing a blog post I am back with a newly minted image I took earlier today looking down on the tennis courts in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. I took quite a few around that area, most of them even more graphic than this one. This image is more literal than most of what I have up on my website. But it intrigues me so I thought I would share it.
(©2013 Englebright Photography)
I am trying to find areas in NYC that may have potential to create imagery for my Second Impressions body of work that I am currently working on. I think Times Square is one of those places because of the crowds, the lights, and the colors. I will go back quite a few times to capture imagery at different times of the day and explore the quality of light that I may get at those different times. This image is from my first foray to Times Square with this work in mind. To create this image I found a place with both shadow and direct light. I wanted to capture people as they emerged from the shadow into the light. With this image I like how her right foot disappears as if she is dipping her foot into a pool of light. I am fond of the square format; I cropped it this way to create a tension and made sure I kept the figure standing in the shadows at the very edge of the right hand side of the frame.
This is one of the images I have submitted for a juried exhibition next week. It is also part of a workshop I will be attending this weekend, the Open Door Series, sponsored by the Soho Gallery for Digital Art. It’s being taught by Brainard Carey, author of “Making it in the Art World” and a Whitney Biennial recipient.
I create my imagery in such a bubble that I crave an opportunity to get constructive feedback from professionals in the NYC art markets and connect with gallery owners here in Manhattan.
(Robert Englebright)
