Greenpoint & Williamsburg / Unexpected Brooklyn: Neighborhood Landscape in Transition

As I work in the darkroom, the magic of seeing a print appear in the developer is still as fresh as it was the first time I experienced it 36 years ago.

I use the photographic medium to capture metaphoric images that express my personal experiences.

Anders Goldfarb is a photographer that has exhibited his work domestically and internationally. Most recently, he showed his work at Gallery 8 in Manhattan, Ten Haaf Projects in Amsterdam, Safe-T-Gallery in Brooklyn, Flushing Library in Queens, P.S. 1 in Queens and other venues. He has taught photography at College of New Rochelle, Cooper Union and other schools. He earned a M.F.A in photography from SUNY New Paltz and a B.A. in anthropology from SUNY Stony Brook.

To contact the artist:
andersgoldfarb@gmail.com | www.andersgoldfarb.com

This exhibition features documentary photos shot in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Red Hook. As a Brooklyn resident, I am always talking up the many wonderful aspects of this borough, which I feel often trump Manhattan.

As a photographer, I go out on photo safaris in different Brooklyn neighborhoods and collect compositions of things that are often unnoticed, yet striking for their color, design or beauty. Though it is cliché to say, "stopping to smell the roses" is something that we busy New Yorkers often fail to do. I feel it is my job as a visual artist to slow down and examine my surroundings so that other people can enjoy these everyday examples that exist within these communities. When choosing a place, object or scene to shoot, I am most cognizant of its texture, shape and color, as well as its emotional effect on me and the way it becomes something different when illuminated by light.

I focused on these three particular neighborhoods because they are all at a midpoint between the old blight and recent rejuvenation. Some parts of each neighborhood are still run-down, and some have gotten cleaned up and beautified by residents and the city. Regardless of how "pretty" a neighborhood is, I still see things that make me stop in my tracks with appreciation and delight. I want to share that with the Brooklyn community!

The photographs in this exhibition were created between 2005 and 2008.

Rosie McCobb is a product photographer in Brooklyn, and she also shoots photojournalism assignments and portraits. She has exhibited her work at TRA Gallery in Brooklyn, Ai.lov.iu Gallery in Brooklyn, Umbrella Arts in Manhattan and other venues. She won the 2008 Pass Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for her photography for the news story "A Ballot's Breadth Away from Rejoining Society." Her photography has also appeared on Citylimits.org and in The Brooklyn Paper. She earned a B.F.A. in creative writing and film from Emerson College.

To contact the artist:
photo@rosiemccobb.com |
www.rosiemccobb.com | www.flickr.com/photos/mccobbphoto/sets