A portrait, a pan, and a zoom.
BLDG 92 Visiting Artist Randy Duchaine spread the love broadly to three different styles of photography in picking winners for this winter’s seasonal photo contest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But as far as colors go, Randy was pretty specific with his choices. The winners are comprised almost solely of grays and reds, displaying a stripped-down approach that draws attention to formal and symbolic aspects of each image.>> Continue reading
After a month of voting and deliberation, we are proud to announce the winners of the People’s Choice and Photographer’s Choice Awards in the first annual Brooklyn Navy Yard photography contest. All of the submitted photographs were taken on our four Seasonal Photography Tours in 2013 (the next tour is Saturday, January 18!) – we received over 200 submissions that were whittled down to 12 finalists by our great group of Navy Yard-based photographers and artists. Now – on to the winners.
People’s Choice Award Winner: David Ziegler>> Continue reading
The three winning photographers came from three different states to explore the Brooklyn Navy Yard on our Seasonal Photography Tour on October 19. And our contest judge, photographer Davina Zagury Feinberg, came to the Brooklyn Navy Yard from Thailand (via Israel and other spots around NYC) as a tenant four years ago. It is no surprise to us that the Fall Photography Tour and contest upholds the Yard’s tradition as a place where cultures collide.
Since it was established by the federal government in 1801, the Navy Yard has attracted people from around the globe. The site eventually became a center for technology and industry, and a place where the brightest minds in America would thrive. Famed folks like E.R. Squibb (from Delaware), James Fennimore Cooper (from New Jersey), and Matthew Calbraith Perry (from Rhode Island) set a precedent for collaboration and innovation in the Yard during the first half of the nineteenth century that still exists today. While “green” buildings and cutting-edge technologies dot today’s industrial park, the beauty of the Yard’s old infrastructure proves too sublime for photographers from any state of the union to resist.>> Continue reading
Usually a cloudy day is not ideal for a tour – but for our Fall Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the cloudy weather could not have been better. The light during the tour two Saturdays ago was diffused by the clouds, which made for an evenly-lit and crisp batch of photos. And the clouds themselves… fuggetaboutit!
Please enjoy browsing the photo submissions below. If they seem a little cooler than a regular browse through your Instagram or Facebook feed, that’s because they are.>> Continue reading
When Brooklyn Navy Yard-based photographer Davina Zagury Feinberg moved to Brooklyn from Israel ten years ago, she had the notion that she could make it as an artist. As we sat together in the café atop BLDG 92 in the Yard last week, it was apparent that she had done just that.
We at Turnstile Tours and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92 are proud to announce Davina as our featured artist for the Fall Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard on October 19. As you may know, this also means she will be judging the tour’s photo contest – and years spent navigating the photography world on both sides of the Atlantic qualify Davina for this assignment.>> Continue reading
The results are in for our Brooklyn Navy Yard Summer Photography Tour! Contest judge and Yard-based photographer Amy Fronczkiewicz has picked her three favorite photos from this season’s Instagram submissions out of a total of 87 entries. Here they are in no particular order – drumroll please …
Amy had this to say about this entry from David Ziegler: “Strong graphic composition with a creative, clever use of perspective.” Amy paid close attention to composition and balance in all of her choices, and in this photo the placement of specific elements makes the image. Warm, earthy colors of the rusty hook bend to a point, where an ambiguous red triangle awaits. This sets off a cool background containing a more modern marvel — One World Trade Center.>> Continue reading
While looking through the submissions from the participants on our Summer Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, I was reminded of one of the grandest works of art we have right here in New York City, Thomas Cole’s Course of Empire, which is housed at the New-York Historical Society.
At about the same time the US Navy began building the famed Brooklyn Naval Hospital, Cole was painstakingly painting his five-part masterwork. It was the 1830’s, and Americans were keenly aware of the global powerhouse that the United States could become. Cole painted the series in glowing and detailed Hudson River School-style, depicting five stages of empire – the series takes viewers from a “Savage” to “Pastoral” states, then to the “Consummation of Empire,” “Destruction,” and finally “Desolation.”>> Continue reading
The next installment of our year-long series of Seasonal Photography Tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is coming up next week (Saturday, July 20, 11am-1pm), with a new perspective on the yard and a new yard-based photographer who will judge our photo contest.
If you’re unfamiliar with these tours, here’s how it works: we meet at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center, board a (mercifully air-conditioned!) bus, and visit eye-popping spots around the sprawling 300-acre site. Throughout the tour, we sprinkle in stories about the yard’s history and present tenants (there are 300+ businesses in the yard), but the real focus is giving participants the opportunity to take great shots of the unique landscape. For two hours, they get a behind-the-scenes look at the yard itself, while learning something about the yard’s transformation today.>> Continue reading
The photos we’ve collected from our Spring Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard reflect the huge variety of material in the yard. Over thirty photographers packed the bus on the morning of Saturday, April 20, and for two hours we buzzed about the industrial waterfront. An overcast day provided good, diffused light for the group, and their individual visions shined into the nooks and crannies of the yard. Throughout the following week, over fifty submissions to our Instagram photo contest trickled in. The tough task of choosing three favorites fell to Navy Yard-based artist Thomas Witte – but before we announce the winners, we want to thank all of the tour participants for exploring the yard with us, and all of the photographers who submitted their wonderful photos. Here are Thomas’ selections:>> Continue reading
We recently held our second installment of our Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and to all those who participated in the photo contest, we salute you! Not only were the submissions diverse and vibrant, but we had over 50 entries! Three winning photos will be chosen next week by Yard-based artist Thomas Witte. In next week’s blog post we’ll highlight the winners, but for now I want to share some insight and excellent news about our celebrity judge.
Upon speaking with Thomas last week, I learned a few things about the role that photography plays in his work (which I began to discuss in my previous post). Thomas’s grandfather was a surgeon who caught the photography bug. Back in the days before digital, his grandfather would shoot and develop hundreds of slides, and they have become the basis for much of Thomas’ art. Just recently, while preparing for an upcoming Arts for Transit installation, he trekked into Grand Central Terminal with his dad, who also happens do be a photographer. With the younger Witte directing the elder, the tripod was strategically placed, photos clicked, and the scenes were cemented in time. These purpose-shot images will become part of a four-artist installation utilizing 16 large light boxes in Grand Central’s lower dining area. Thomas will use the images as the material for large, dark stencils that will silhouette against the backlit boxes (see more of his stencil work here). The stenciling will demand surgeon-like precision (it must run in the family!), and the results should be stunning.>> Continue reading
