Member Profile: Sheila N. Bernard

close "THE URBAN SERIES" __ I experience a definite “urban void” living in the suburbs…a longing for the noise, smells, and flurry that the city exudes. When I emerge from the Lincoln Tunnel, and go from the bucolic to the bustle, I become re-energized! Carrying my camera in New York City puts me on auto focus. I observe the juxtapositions of skyscrapers, notice the remarkable reflections one building projects onto another, or see a segment of a building that creates an abstract which could easily be influenced by the Impressionist, Cubist or Expressionist Movement. While crossing Sixth Avenue I have stopped suddenly midway to capture the fleeting light on buildings and prayed the traffic would go around me. I found I could do contortions I never dreamed of to achieve an angle or effect I envisioned would make a unique composition. I have returned to a particular structure to shoot it at different times and in different seasons until the vantage point from which I chose to shoot is no longer available because the new building blocks my view. “The Urban Series” has been created from this body of work.