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ERB

@sp28.net

117 followers 145 following 260 posts

Observer | Hudson Valley and NYC All Works © ERB

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ERB @sp28.net · 22h

170 Fifth Avenue in September, 2026. This building appears on the right side of Edward Steichen's famous pictorialist image of the nearby Flat Iron Building.

A grainy, dark monochrome photograph looking upward toward the ornate tower and domed cupola of 170 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The building occupies the right side of the composition, its architectural details partially obscured by shadow.

Several strands of overhead electrical wiring stretch diagonally across the image, intersecting and overlapping the tower. Four unlit light bulbs hang at different heights from the wires, suspended against a pale, overcast sky. One prominent bulb hangs near the upper left corner.

The photograph emphasizes the contrast between the rigid geometry of the wires, the delicate curves of the historic architecture, and the empty sky. Soft focus, coarse grain, muted tones, and deep shadows give the scene an atmospheric, almost century-old appearance reminiscent of early pictorialist photography.

The building also appears in Edward Steichen’s celebrated 1904 photograph The Flatiron, where it occupies a secondary position behind the principal subject.

A screenshot of a Wikipedia information panel for The Flatiron, a 1904 photograph by Edward Steichen.

At the top, the title The Flatiron appears in bold italic text. Beneath it is a vertically oriented photograph in muted blue green and charcoal tones. The image depicts Manhattan’s Flatiron Building rising into a misty sky, partially obscured by the bare branches of trees in the foreground. Dark silhouettes of people and a horse drawn carriage occupy the wet street below, where faint lights reflect in the pavement.

Below the photograph, a table provides the artwork’s details:

- Artist: Edward Steichen
- Year: 1904, printed 1909
- Medium: Blue green pigment gum bichromate over platinum print
- Dimensions: 18 13/16 × 15 1/8 inches (47.8 × 38.4 cm)
- Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The artist’s name and museum location appear as blue hyperlinks. The information panel has a light gray background with a thin gray border.

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ERB @sp28.net · 12/10/2026

A vertically composed, monochrome photograph of a dense arrangement of pale chrysanthemums beneath an industrial framework of steel beams, pipes, and dangling wires.

The flowers occupy the lower third of the image, forming a broad, luminous arch around a dark, nearly black interior of tangled stems and foliage. Above them, heavy diagonal beams, horizontal supports, and thin, irregularly hanging wires intersect against translucent panels.

The composition contrasts the soft, rounded forms of the blossoms with the rigid geometry of the surrounding structure. Muted gray tones, visible grain, and subdued light give the photograph an aged, atmospheric quality.

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ERB @sp28.net · 07/10/2026

View from the ShopRite parking lot.

A large traffic signal hangs overhead, silhouetted against a pale blue sky filled with soft white clouds. Thick utility cables cut diagonally across the composition, creating a dense arrangement of intersecting lines and dark geometric forms.
Near the bottom of the frame, a solitary human figure appears in silhouette, one arm raised with a single finger pointing skyward. The figure is small compared with the imposing traffic signal above.
The photograph emphasizes the contrast between rigid urban infrastructure and the open, atmospheric sky. The nearly black silhouettes flatten the scene, reducing its subjects to shapes, lines, and gestures.
There is something ambiguous, almost theatrical, about the raised hand. It could suggest defiance, celebration, protest, or simply an incidental gesture caught at precisely the right moment.
The most compelling aspect is the relationship between the two silhouettes. The enormous, silent traffic signal seems to dominate the composition, while the tiny human figure asserts its presence with one unmistakable gesture.
The photograph feels less like a description of a particular street corner and more like a visual statement about the individual confronting the structures of modern life.

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ERB @sp28.net · 24/09/2026

The Landing Place #art #pictorialism #iPhone

A grainy monochrome photograph dominated by a vast, turbulent sky. Billowing clouds rise in dense layers, shifting from pale silver to deep charcoal and giving the scene a heavy, almost theatrical atmosphere.

A dark palm trunk forms a strong vertical border along the left edge, with sharp fronds reaching diagonally into the sky. Along the lower right, a repeating row of steep triangular roofs recedes into the distance. Their bright surfaces contrast with the dark clouds and vegetation.

The composition feels compressed between tropical foliage and human shelter, while the enormous sky occupies most of the frame. The soft detail, muted tones, and visible grain give the scene the character of an older pictorial photograph rather than a straightforward record of a tropical destination.

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ERB @sp28.net · 23/09/2026

Under an Atlantic Sky #art #pictorialism #iPhone

The upper decks of the Oasis of the Seas rise diagonally from the lower left, their pale geometric forms standing against a dark and turbulent North Atlantic sky. A broad plume of exhaust streams from the ship’s funnel and drifts horizontally across the upper portion of the photograph, resembling a luminous cloud. Below, a narrow band of dark ocean stretches toward the horizon. The monochrome treatment, visible grain, subdued detail, and heavy sky give the scene a somber, almost dreamlike quality as the ship cruises southward.

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ERB @sp28.net · 22/09/2026

At Nassau Pier #art #pictorialism #iPhone

A black and white pictorial photograph made on the pier at Nassau, Bahamas. Heavy coils of thick marine rope fill the foreground, rising across the bottom of the image like a rough, textured landscape. Beyond them stands a large dark metal mooring fixture, almost entirely in silhouette.

Above it, an enormous cumulus cloud towers through most of the frame. Its bright edges catch the sunlight while its interior falls into deep gray shadow, giving it immense weight and volume. The small, dark industrial form below seems almost insignificant beneath the cloud.

The grain, softened detail, compressed tones, and dramatic separation of light and shadow give the photograph an old, atmospheric quality. The scene feels less like a record of a working pier and more like a meditation on scale, stillness, and the power of the sky.

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ERB @sp28.net · 21/09/2026

The Floating City #art #pictorialism #iPhone

A grainy monochrome photograph shows Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas docked at Port Canaveral, Florida, rising behind dense tropical vegetation. Dark leaves and tangled growth fill the foreground, obscuring much of the ship’s lower hull and making the enormous vessel seem to emerge from the landscape.

The ship stretches across most of the frame, with tiered decks, radar domes, and multiple groups of tall exhaust stacks breaking the skyline. Large cumulus clouds tower behind it, adding scale and drama.

The muted tones, pronounced grain, and softened detail give the scene a pictorial quality. The contrast between the shadowy vegetation and the immense modern ship makes Oasis of the Seas appear almost like a distant city glimpsed beyond a garden.

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ERB @sp28.net · 09/09/2026

Dominion #art #pictorialism #iPhone

A dark, grainy black and white photograph of a military helicopter viewed from below at close range. The aircraft looms diagonally across the frame, its rounded cockpit, broad rotor blade, landing skids, and equipment beneath the fuselage emerging from heavy shadow. Behind it, a turbulent sky of glowing clouds and deep gray tones creates a dramatic backdrop. The low viewpoint makes the helicopter feel large and imposing, while the softened detail and muted tonal range give the image an ominous, pictorialist quality.

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ERB @sp28.net · 09/09/2026

Lilies #art #pictorialism #iPhone

A vertical black and white photograph looks down onto the surface of a pond after rain. A cluster of round lily pads fills the lower third of the frame, their dark, textured surfaces covered with bright beads of water. The pads overlap and drift outward from a denser group near the center.

Above them, the water becomes almost indistinguishable from the sky it reflects. Large luminous clouds spread across the middle of the image, surrounded by deep charcoal areas that give the reflection a turbulent, stormy quality. Near the top, faint parallel lines cross the reflected sky, while small flecks and imperfections on the water break up its smooth surface.

There is very little sense of where the pond ends and the reflected sky begins. The lily pads provide the only firm physical reference, appearing almost to float beneath or within the clouds. The soft grain, subdued contrast, and slightly weathered surface give the photograph the appearance of an old pictorialist print rather than a straightforward photograph of a pond.

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ERB @sp28.net · 07/09/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 04/09/2026

Grand Central Terminal - October 2022

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ERB @sp28.net · 24/08/2026

After The Rain

A small wild plant rises from the bottom center of the image, its leaves and stem rendered as a dark silhouette against a vast sky. Above it, enormous clouds billow and swirl in soft layers, filling nearly the entire frame. The clouds are luminous in places and deep gray in others, creating a sense of drama, mystery, and beauty. The foreground is nearly black, so the plant appears fragile and small beneath the immense weight of the sky. The overall feeling is one of awe and wonder, as if nature is revealing something both intimate and grand at once. In the spirit of pictorialism, the image does not aim for sharp factual description alone. Instead, it uses softness, tonal atmosphere, and mood to evoke emotion, much like a pictorialist print that values poetic feeling over strict detail.

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ERB @sp28.net · 16/08/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 02/08/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 02/08/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 01/08/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 01/08/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 30/07/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 29/07/2026

We used to have an unobstructed view of Taipei 101 from Lane 30 in the Xinyi district. No longer.

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ERB @sp28.net · 28/07/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 28/07/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 28/07/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 28/07/2026

I got a Manhattan Portage 'Urban' bag for my sketchbook and pens from Altman Luggage on the Lower East Side yesterday. I didn’t find out until I got to the store that It was actually $15 below what Amazon was asking.

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ERB @sp28.net · 25/07/2026

I used a Lomography Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens @5.6 on a Nikon D610 for these pictorialist style photographs. - 07/24/26

A black and white photograph shows a cat resting on a sunlit wooden floor inside a quiet home. The cat is viewed from behind, its ears standing alert while its body remains relaxed, stretched comfortably within a bright patch of sunlight. Its striped fur catches the light, revealing subtle textures that gradually disappear into deep shadow.

Across the floor, strong bands of sunlight stream through an unseen window, creating bold geometric shapes that divide the room into light and darkness. The cat’s shadow falls beside it, echoing the pointed shape of its ears and giving the impression of a silent companion.

In the background, a simple wooden stool stands partly illuminated, its long shadow extending across the floor. Farther left, a dark circular object, likely the base of a fan or household appliance, fades into the surrounding darkness. Most of the room remains indistinct, allowing the interplay of light, shadow, and form to dominate the scene.

The photograph is intentionally soft, with visible grain and muted contrast that create a dreamlike atmosphere. Rather than emphasizing sharp detail, it conveys the warmth of afternoon light, the stillness of the room, and the quiet companionship of a cat at rest.

A softly focused black and white still life fills the frame, evoking the dreamy, atmospheric style of early twentieth century pictorialist photography. At the center sits a small, clear glass bottle holding a bouquet of tiny, round flower heads packed tightly together. Each blossom resembles a miniature woven sphere, with only the nearest ones showing hints of delicate texture while the rest dissolve into blur.

In the foreground, a pair of dark framed reading glasses rests on a light wooden tabletop. They are intentionally out of focus, their curved arms leading the eye toward the vase. Behind the flowers, the background fades into broad, velvety shapes with no distinct detail, suggesting an interior space rather than describing it.

The image is rich with soft grain, low contrast, and gentle tonal transitions. Nothing appears sharply defined. Instead of documenting the objects themselves, the photograph conveys a quiet, nostalgic mood, as though recalling a memory rather than recording a scene. The flowers become the emotional center, while the blurred glasses hint at observation, reflection, or the passage of time.

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ERB @sp28.net · 08/07/2026

Corning Tower, Albany, New York - 07/03/2026

A tall, rectangular office tower rises in the background against a pale blue sky. The building, Albany’s Corning Tower, has a repetitive grid of narrow vertical windows and appears almost monolithic, with its flat roof and sharply defined edges emphasizing its height.

The foreground is intentionally out of focus and dominates much of the composition. A pair of suspended traffic lights stretches horizontally across the upper third of the frame. The traffic signal on the right displays a vivid red light, which is the only strong color accent in the image. Dark utility wires crisscross the scene in several directions, creating a web of lines that partially obscures the tower. A wooden utility pole with transformers and electrical equipment stands to the left of center, adding more industrial detail.

The photograph compresses the distance between the foreground and background, making the traffic lights, wires, and skyscraper appear stacked tightly together. The shallow depth of field keeps the Corning Tower crisp while the nearby traffic signals and wires blur into soft shapes, drawing attention to the tower despite the visual clutter. The overall mood is urban and restrained, contrasting the clean geometry of the skyscraper with the tangled infrastructure of the street below.

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ERB @sp28.net · 08/07/2026

Albany, New York - 07/03/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 08/07/2026

Albany, New York - 07/03/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 08/07/2026

Albany, New York - 07/03/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 08/07/2026

Albany, New York - July 3, 2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 03/06/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 29/05/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 29/05/2026

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ERB @sp28.net · 21/05/2026

A telephoto view of modern Taipei photographed from street level in the morning. On the left side of the frame, a tall dark green glass office tower fills nearly half the image, its reflective windows forming a dense grid of vertical lines. Behind and partially hidden by it stands a lighter colored skyscraper with layered architectural details and a circular antenna structure near its roof that resembles a futuristic observation pod.

In the foreground, a dark metallic rooftop cuts diagonally across the bottom of the image, creating a sharp geometric shape that contrasts with the vertical buildings behind it. The telephoto compression makes the towers appear tightly packed together, flattening the sense of distance and emphasizing repeating patterns of glass, steel, and concrete.

The morning light is soft and slightly hazy, giving the distant structures a muted bluish tone while preserving fine detail in the windows and building textures. The overall image feels quiet, dense, and highly geometric, focusing more on shape, layering, and urban form than on individual landmarks.

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ERB @sp28.net · 20/05/2026

A sharply composed urban photograph dominated by fragments of industry, signage, and sky in Brooklyn. On the left side rises a tall cylindrical brick smokestack, weathered and slightly tapering near the top, standing alone against a deep blue sky.

On the right is the cropped corner of a commercial building with a large billboard style sign. Only parts of the business name and phone number are visible, giving the image a fragmented, anonymous quality. Beneath the sign, the word “seen” appears in small black script on a pale wall, almost like a quiet piece of street art or commentary.

The lower portion of the wall is stained with broad red paint drips and overspray, creating an abstract field of texture that contrasts with the clean typography above. The composition balances industrial permanence with temporary human marks, giving the image a feeling of observation and quiet urban tension rather than straightforward documentation.

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ERB @sp28.net · 20/05/2026

An elevated view looking down into the open parade grounds of Citadel Hill. In the foreground sits a large black cannon mounted on a wheeled carriage beside a tall wooden support structure used for lifting heavy artillery. Nearby, an enormous black mortar shell rests alone on the gravel, roped off like a museum artifact.

At the lower left, a historical reenactor in a cream colored military uniform with red trim, white socks, dark shoes, and a tartan kilt walks across the scene. The figure appears small compared to the heavy artillery equipment around him.

Far in the background, three tourists stand together in the vast empty courtyard, emphasizing the scale and openness of the fort grounds. The pale gravel surface dominates most of the image, creating a minimalist composition with only a few scattered elements. The overall mood feels quiet, historical, and slightly surreal because of the large empty space and the contrast between human figures and the oversized military objects.

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ERB @sp28.net · 20/05/2026

A tightly framed architectural photograph of Taipei 101 rising between darker modern office towers. The famous skyscraper is seen only in part, with its pale green glass exterior and stacked, tiered sections climbing upward through the center right of the image. Near the top, its circular observation structure and tall spire extend into a clear blue sky.

The surrounding buildings create a canyon like effect. On the left is a dark grid of reflective windows, while the center building has deep vertical shadows and repeating horizontal bands. The composition compresses the buildings together, emphasizing height, geometry, and narrow slices of sky.

The image has a cool, restrained color palette of steel gray, blue, and pale green. The overall mood feels dense, urban, and slightly monumental, focusing more on abstract lines and structure than on the city itself.

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ERB @sp28.net · 18/05/2026

“Pray tell me anything new that has happened to a man anywhere on this globe” and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River;