As photographer of details of architecture, I am conditioned to observe my surroundings carefully. I notice buildings, but I hone in on the line of a corner; the angle of a gable; a fashioned decorative vine on a wrought iron gate and the stone carvings on a façade. Fine tuning a bit more, I visually thrive on the textures used for building: grainy granite, polished marble, satiny wood, rough brick, smooth cold iron. These elements create an environment that promotes creativity for me. And above all the light that permeates the scene sets the tone of my photography. Rembrandt ’s art and the light of his world are the reasons that I recently went to Amsterdam. To know and to understand an artist ’s work on an intimate level, it is essential to see the light with which the artist worked. I believe that the light of Amsterdam defined Rembrandt ’s paintings, drawings, etchings. The way that the master saw his subjects, gave him the framework for the art he created.
Amazingly, in a world that is evolving with split second timing, Amsterdam welcomes the future to blend smoothly with the past. It is quite possible to imagine that you are walking along the canals with Rembrandt in the 1600 ’s. The city is criss-crossed with canals that reflect the soft misty light back into the sky. In late May, when I visited the city, the huge puffy clouds of Rembrandt ’s landscapes were just as low to earth as in his paintings. It seemed as if I could pull off a piece of cloud like cotton candy if I stretched out my arm. The marvelous billows of grays, whites, ochres, yellows, blues and many other colors were dotted with openings, big and small, to the soft sky beyond. Through these portals light drifted in soft shafts. Rays that lit fragments of a building, a tree or a face. The delicate way that the light illuminates in Amsterdam creates a mood of fluidity: seamless values.
When the sky turned darker in the late afternoon, I could see the glow that glorified so many of Rembrandt ’s subjects. The setting sun through the mist that was usually present allowed beams of radiant light to highlight with a luminosity for which the master is famous. The golden shafts of light were slightly blurred by the watery atmosphere to create a soft, ethereal radiance that was both brilliant and subtle. The night sky also presented a much more diffused dark than I have experienced. The celestial bodies, when visible, seemed to have a filmy edge with a sparkling central area that gave the sky a surreal enchantment. Perhaps the same magic that suffuses the nightscapes Rembrandt prolifically painted.
On one extraordinary day, my son Joe, who had generously gifted me with the wonderful trip, and I took an excursion to Ghent and Bruges in the Flemish region of Belgium. Throughout the drive (furthest four hours outside of Amsterdam) there are farmlands and grazing cows, and other farm animals. Occasionally we spotted a windmill. The scenery was so much like being in a Rembrandt work that the experience may have surpassed seeing the master ’s paintings and drawings in the Rijksmuseum. The day was sunny, but the light was, again, as in Amsterdam, filtered, soft, delicate. The pastoral landscape was filled with water trenches that collect the abundant rainfall and irrigate the farms. Enormous clouds hung low and echoed the blues, greens and pale yellows of the countryside. Remarkable light.
Our journey was filled with marvelous sights and delightful chance encounters with people we met along the way. Always, I felt the presence of Rembrandt: walking by the canals, sitting in a charming courtyard or square, traversing the countryside and seeing the light that he saw. Although four hundred years have passed since Rembrandt lived and created art in Amsterdam, he is very much alive there today.
Created by Ellen Fisch On 06/29/09 At 04:43 PM
My earliest recollections are of an elaborate grate that covered an air shaft in the house where I was raised in Brooklyn. The pattern of swirls-the positive and negative space-the completeness of the Victorian design captivated me. The vent went out into a back yard and because the brass plate so fascinated me, I created elaborate visual images in my mind that incorporated the polished plate, shadowy shaft and the leafy garden beyond. I sketched the grate and used black Crayola crayons to block out the negative space. One day, I discovered a way of looking at the plate and my sketches through the viewfinder of my Dad’s Kodak Brownie. It was magic! So began my passion for architectural elements that define and augment visual space and my desire to create own art from these masterworks of stone, metal, glass and wood.
As a photographer of details of architecture, I am still enthralled by the magnificent art and meticulous craft that went in to the creation of ornamentation of architecture in the past. When I plan a day of photographing architecture, likely as not, I will be amazed by the details that I discover-even now. Throughout my travels, I have photographed vine covered lampposts, grim faced gargoyles, beatific angels, elaborate serpentine designs and elegant art deco relief I first photograph some of the area in which the detail exists. For example, on a recent shoot, I found inspirational subjects in Grand Central Station. Before taking photographs of the details to which I was drawn, I took pictures of the entire building from numerous angles. I then isolated the details of architecture that I wished to photograph. I always work with natural light to emphasize the characteristics of the detail of architecture and the way in which it was initially created. After I am satisfied that I had enough photographs of the architectural detail, I shoot the surfaces of the detail and the surrounding area up close so that I can understand the original medium: sandstone, marble, brass, oak, et al. Later, I look at the images for hours before selecting the very best way in which I can preserve and enhance the art of the architectural detail. The images of Grand Central Station’s magnificent architectural details gave me weeks of creative energy and a passion to return there often to seek out new details and further refine the previous photographs I took there.
My quest in seeking out architectural details from which to create my own art has given me a profound appreciation of the beauty and history of New York. The art of creating art from art can be a humbling, yet empowering experience. I have, on the one hand, the great artists who created these marvels of ornamentation to live up to as I incorporate their art into my own. On the other hand, I am mentored by some of the best possible teachers. It was and continues to be a wonderful way to express myself through art. 
