He’s been really inspiring me lately. Go see more at urban dreamscapes.

What is a Vertorama? As Photojojo joked, they’re “just like panoramas, only more vertical.” Basically, a vertorama is comprised of two or more horizontal images stitched together vertically with image editing software. There are several advantages of creating vertoramas, but the two most compelling to me are 1) far greater detail in both the foreground and the background and 2) the (simulated) huuuuuge viewing angle.

I’ve included some of my favorite NYC vertoramas below, featuring work from two of my favorite NYC photographers, Peter Kruger and Vitaliy Piltser.

If you’d like to see loads more, check out this great Flickr group. And if you’re interested in trying out the technique for yourself, here’s a quick tutorial! Any vertorama veterans, please feel free to leave tips in the comments!

“9/11 Tribute Lights,” [a four-photograph composite image] by Vitaliy Piltser:

“A Brooklyn Sunset,” [a 31-photograph composite image] by Vitaliy Piltser:

“Manhattan Bridge Vertoramas,” [two three-image composite images] by Peter Kruger:

“Universally Applied,” by Peter Kruger:

Be sure to click on over to see the full set on Arnade’s photostream and learn more about this time-honored Brooklyn tradition!

I spoke with Joel to ask if this series was a surprise to him, and he had a thought-provoking response:

In terms of finding and documenting the sentiments there’s two parts of it: one is that temporality – it’s a brutally honest and potential short term declaration of emotions to a large audience. The second element is that most of this street art is hidden in one way or another, normally behind a construction fence or on a relatively abandoned street. There’s an interesting contrast between the bleakness of the surroundings and the messages posted on the walls.

It almost always comes as a surprise to me. I do read some other sites that focus on street art like Robots Will Kill, Unurth, and Brooklyn Street Art, but for the most part these are things I happen upon when I walk around!

What a great set they are, and a happy surprise to me as well! If you’re interested in buying one of Joel’s prints for your sweetheart, hop on over to his Etsy and check out the Valentine’s Day street art posts at Robots Will Kill and Brooklyn Street Art for more!

Fast-forward to 2010, and Claire is making magic happen with a vintage flair — but I’ll let her tell you all about it in her own words! For more, be sure to check out her full set on Flickr! Thanks so much, Claire!

—–

The way I got my Brownie was completely a fluke. I was about to begin a photography unit with my Kindergartners and wanted to show them what an “old” camera looked like — they are young enough to have no clue what a roll of film is. So I bought a very cheap and retro-looking Kodak camera on eBay from a woman who had it sitting around in her basement. Because it was her first time selling on eBay, there ended up being some mix-ups in the shipping costs and thus she decided to throw in a darling little Brownie Hawkeye as a free ‘sorry for the trouble’ present.

And what a present it ended up being! If you haven’t seen one, they are the most charming little plastic boxes — and though Kodak swears up and down that they take only 620 film, as long as you have a 620 take up reel, 120 will work in it just fine. They are the easiest things on Earth to use. There’s no focus, no aperture, no metering — it’s as simple as pushing a button and relishing in that wonderfully satisfying !

After seeing the work of other Brownie users on Flickr, I was completely enchanted at discovering the incredible effects you could get after flipping the lens. Since the flip, Brownie and I have now entered a soft and dreamy wonderland that is the complete opposite of the normal streamlined, hard-edged NYC that I am used to photographing and that my style has adapted to over the years. The fact that I have relatively little control over the image that Brownie creates provides for some refreshing abandon and enjoyment in all the happy accidents that the film world has up its sleeve.

I think challenging ourselves as photographers to constantly try out and adapt to different styles and viewpoints does a lot to keep us moving forward, and this cute little box couldn’t have been better for me in that regard. It’s lovely to be out now with (at least) two cameras and retrain my eye to see both the hard and solid New York that we all know and love so much, as well as the fluid, nostalgic world underneath full of memories and softness that we often forget to enjoy. In my quest to introduce film to my Kindergartners, they ended up introducing a whole new world of magical squares to me too.

Matt Heidelberger is a street photographer and Indianapolis native who has long explored his subjects through historical context and observations about the changing nature of the American Midwest urban center. After months of splitting his time between Indy and NYC, he decided to head east on a more permanent basis. Now residing in Bed-Stuy, Matt is happy to call Brooklyn home and we’re thrilled to welcome him here! He graciously agreed to do an interview, so check out his insightful responses below, and make sure to head over to his blog or Flickr stream to keep up with his work!

For the Love of Brooklyn: First of all, welcome to Brooklyn! We’re so glad you’re here! What has brought you this fine borough, and which neighborhood have you chosen to call yours? Any first impressions as a newcomer?

Matt Heidelberger: Thanks, I’m quite glad to call myself a Brooklyn resident! As an Indianapolis native nearing the age of 30, I felt I have reached the limit as to what Indianapolis can provide for me (culturally, professionally, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, Indianapolis is and always will be my home town that I love, but I needed a change. I chose to move to New York City because it has always been a dream in the back of my mind to live in a metropolis since I was very young. My best friend lives in Manhattan, so I had the peace of mind of not making the move completely alone. I checked out Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens as possible places to call home.

I ultimately chose Brooklyn because it appealed to me the most. It’s full of culture, history, and considerably more laid back than Manhattan. I know I made the correct choice for I feel quite at home here. I live in a brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant, or as the neighborhood locals call it, Bed Stuy. One thing I noticed about my neighborhood and Brooklyn as a whole is that it is in a process of great change. On my street alone in Bed Stuy, modern mid-rise condos are making the scene in between brownstones and industrial buildings. It’s both exciting (to see your neighborhood thrive) and worrisome (to wonder how much longer a guy of middle class means, such as myself, can continue to afford to live in the neighborhood) to see this process underway.

FTLOB: Over on your blog, The Heidelberger Papers, you’ve long explored themes of urban geography and renewal through your photography — not only in your hometown of Indianapolis, but in loads of other cities all over the US. What are the most poignant or meaningful observations you’ve made about how Indianapolis has been changing over the last several years?

MH: Indianapolis has completely reinvented itself over the past few decades. It was a Midwest industrial city that instead of facing decades of decline like many of its neighbors (Detroit and Cleveland to name a few) it transformed to a service, hosting, and a sporting events based economy. I remember when I was a kid, we didn’t go downtown; not only was there not much going on there, but it was considered a risky endeavor to walk around. That all changed in the mid-90′s; conventions are hosted all year round, there’s night and street life, there are places to shop and dine, and nobody really feels in anyway threatened to walk the streets.

Indianapolis is, however, not free of problems. Homelessness is a large problem; interestingly enough, based solely on my observations, I notice it to be worse there than in NYC. Spend a decent amount of time in Indy, and you will notice homeless people sleeping on stoops of abandoned/closed buildings and sidewalks and there will be actual colonies of dozens living under one overpass. While downtown is successful, the neighborhoods of the inner city struggle with blight, violent crime, and a lack of transportation options.

FTLOB: You’re also well-traveled in this part of the country and have featured Brooklyn numerous times on your blog. How do the two urban geographies and sense of local ‘neighborhood’ compare, in your eyes? Does this easily translate through photography?

MH: The sense of neighborhood is what makes Brooklyn so cool. Manhattan may be the most well known gem of New York City, but I have observed that it can never compare to Brooklyn when it comes to a sense of neighborhood community. The urban ‘neighborhood’ in Indianapolis for example, struggles because, while there are people like myself that lived in the city center, most people only go to work there, then can’t hop into their cars fast enough and go home to a far out meandering suburb somewhere.

One thing I always try to do when photographing a neighborhood, whether it’s a neighborhood like Park Slope or a struggling neighborhood in the South Bronx, is to show and respect the human side of it. This is what I try to communicate in my photography.

FTLOB: Now that you’ve gotten a good start on exploring NYC, what are some of your favorite places to shoot? Any recommendations for us from a seasoned explorer?

MH: I typically like to shoot neighborhoods, infrastructure, and anything else that satisfies my gritty palette. Some of my favorite places in Brooklyn are stops along elevated subway lines for cool perspective on neighborhoods (such as the stops along the D and Z trains). I recently went shooting in Red Hook, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Shooting near Dumbo and Vinegar Hill quench my infrastructure and bridge thirst. I also live to shoot at night, and have found Long Island City, Queens to be fun to shoot when the sun goes down. The Meatpacking District is also fun to photograph at night if you don’t mind traversing all of the inebriated party people.

FTLOB: And finally, here’s the requisite question: What’s the craziest photo story you have while shooting?

MH: My craziest experiences, interestingly enough, have all happened in Indianapolis. I’ve had several encounters with hostile people and animals, cops, and have had many close encounters with automobiles. There are two experiences that come to mind that I find worth mentioning.

The first is an ironic tale as to how I almost ended up getting pinched for walking on the railroad tracks. One of my favorite ways to shoot in Indy is by walking the elevated railroad viaducts that go through the city. It gives you some cool perspectives while keeping your presence discreet, but it also happens to have the disadvantage of being against the law. On this particular walk, I encountered a few downtrodden-looking guys smoking a crystalline substance from a glass pipe; I minded my business, as they did theirs. I walked for awhile and these two transit cops in a white SUV came out of nowhere and approached me. The whole situation was quite humorous actually; they turned on the cop lights, one of the officers walked up to me, while the other hung back with his hand on a gun or tazer (couldn’t tell from where I was standing) and proceeded to question me. They let me off with a warning, but I guess my camera seemed more suspicious than a few tweekers hanging around on the tracks.

My second story involves no law enforcement, or any other people for that matter. I was wanting to get some decent shots of an old closed coke and gas plant. The place is secured by fences and razor wire, and while I know of some urban explorers that would have no trouble scaling them, I’m a little large for those kind of antics. The only way I found possible for me to infiltrate the facility was through a small waterway that runs through it. Sounds simple right? Not so much, for this waterway was disgusting. Not only is it an outlet for sewer overflows, but it is heavily polluted from 100 years of burning coal. My feet kept getting stuck in this substance that I knew for sure wasn’t mud and the smell was a ghastly mix of sewage and volatile hydrocarbons. I eventually got in and got some cool shots, but I still wonder how many types of cancer I might develop in the future from this experience, LOL.

Ah, the plight of an urban explorer. Moral of the story: Avoid volatile hydrocarbons when possible and embrace regular vaccinations! Thanks so much to Matt for the interview, and have a great weekend!

The success of FTLOB can be directly attributed to the hard work, passion and enthusiasm of FTLOB founder Jill Harrison. Jill has been the driving force behind FTLOB and has taken it from a domain name with an empty page to a community that many photographers consider their home base. Through her passion for photography and the love of Brooklyn, Jill has created something special that provides a unique perspective of the borough to its residents and those who (rightfully) wished they were. Posting often, Jill always inspires us with her photographical documentation of the people and places of her surroundings. Across digital and film, 35mm and medium format, she always is able to capture the unique character around her with a keen photographic eye.

Today we have a very special post, because it is Jill’s birthday. We wanted to take a moment to recognize all the hard work she has done. We wanted to thank her for pulling us all together, for organizing us, inspiring us, and showing us how a group of busy, hardworking and competitive photographers can come together for the greater good of the community at large. Thank you Jill for all you’ve done for the site, the borough, and how you’ve inspired the photographers around you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And now a look at some of our favorite recent Jill Harrison photos:

Barry kindly shared his thoughts in this guest blog below, and make sure to check out his growing catalog of self-processed shots for more!

——————————————————————————–
Ever since I’ve become interested in photography I’ve used a digital camera. Recently though, I’ve been inspired by many of my Flickr contacts who’ve been doing amazing work with film. My interest wasn’t to replace digital, but to spark my creativity with a different way of doing things. So about a month ago I got my father’s old Canon AE-1 and shot my first roll of film in… I can’t remember how long. But I didn’t want to just shoot film, I wanted to control the process from end-to-end and that would mean doing my own developing. Was that even possible without a dark room or investing in lots of expensive equipment?

As it turns out, you can develop right in your kitchen sink. For the Love of Brooklyn recently featured an excellent tutorial by Claire Voelkel. That’s where I started.

I have to admit that at first, the process seemed overwhelming. Chemicals have to be mixed at the right temperatures, film needs to be loaded onto reels inside of a changing bag by feel only, and all of the developing steps need to be applied in the correct order for the right amount of time. So before developing my first roll, I bought a cheap roll of film to practice on. I loaded it on to the reels that came with my developing tank, first outside the changing bag so I could see what I was doing, then inside until I was comfortable doing it blind. I also did a test run of the developing steps with water instead of chemicals to make sure I had all the timings down. By the time I developed my film there were no surprises left and it went smoothly.

For me, the most amazing moment came once I finished developing. I finally got to unspool the reel and see the negatives. It actually works! So far I’ve developed four rolls of film and if you’re on the fence about trying it for yourself, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s extremely satisfying.

I immediately reached out to find out what he thinks is so special about this pier where locals go to fish for striped bass, bluefish, and fluke. Triebensee replied:

I’m drawn to the Steeplechase Pier because it’s an ideal place to observe the great diversity of modern New Yorkers both interact and respectfully avoid each other while performing ancient rituals. The fishermen and women there kibbitz when appropriate, yet allow each other enough space to focus on the task at hand and contemplate. All ages, ethnicities, languages and lifestyles are represented.

Truly this diversity is evident in the photoset below, which he has graciously allowed me to share. Please be sure to click through each photo to see the textures in detail, and if you’d like to photograph the Pier for yourself, come join us this weekend for our Coney Island meet-up!

These images feature the gorgeous work she’s doing with her new Rolleicord III, a medium-format twin lens camera from the 1950′s.

Enjoy! (Who wants a puff of cotton candy?!)