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ERB @sp28.net · 15/10/2026

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 · 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 · 22/09/2026

In the pictorialist version I would've preserved the clouds as much as possible, and toned down the sharpness and contrast overall. The tree looks like a giant boulder due to the very high contrast. I would try for a more gentle transition from light to dark, while cutting down on sharp details.

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ERB @sp28.net · 04/09/2026

Grand Central Terminal - October 2022

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ERB @sp28.net · 18/08/2026

A watercolor brush pen full of water of course!

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ERB @sp28.net · 02/08/2026

Thanks 🙏 I’m starting to get into pictorialism again, where it’s all about using light and shadow to create mood and emotion. It gives the viewer room to fill in the details. It was early photography’s attempt to be recognized as a fine art.

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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 · 29/07/2026

I went by here yesterday and saw that the red paint has been covered up.

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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 · 03/07/2026

My year-long daily photo project has officially reached the six month mark.

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Reposted by ERB

A Daily Photo Project @dpp.sp28.net · 23/03/2026

March 23, 2026 4:43 PM

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ERB @sp28.net · 21/05/2026

It’s some sort of a construction business. My guess would be an airbrush went haywire at one point.

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ERB @sp28.net · 18/05/2026

never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

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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;

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