Quarantine Diaries: a conversation with Magda Biernat

This is the last episode of a series of conversations to explore how other artists and creatives are spending their time and energy during the quarantine. In today's episode: Magda Biernat.

(original picture by Wojtek Antczak)

(original picture by Wojtek Antczak)

» Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am an architectural photographer based mainly in NYC but I travel a lot for work and pleasure. I grew up in Poland and moved to the US in 2002, first settling in Seattle, and eventually moving to NYC in 2004 where I started working at Magnum Photos as Communications and Web Manager. While there I had the good fortune to work and befriend many of the Magnum Photographers such as Elliott Erwitt, Philip Jones Griffiths, Paul Fusco, Bruce Gilden, Alec Soth, and many others. Eventually, I turned my interests towards architectural photography and took a workshop with Norman McGrath and soon after became his assistant. In 2005 I split my time between Magnum Photos and Metropolis, a New York-based magazine about architecture and design, where I worked on and off as Photo Editor until 2012. Besides shooting commercially for architects and designers, I also developed my art practice and work on personal projects which are focusing on the built environment, habitation, and the relationship between natural and man-made landscape.

» How did the quarantine affect your work?

The commercial work stopped on March 15th and is only starting to come back now. As for my personal projects, with all this uncertainty in the air, it was hard for me to even focus on making art. I used this time to read a lot and try a few new things, like baking bread. The pandemic also didn’t allow me to travel as much as I usually do. And as I find my inspiration in new places, this has been hard for my creativity and spirit.

» Did you have any big plans for 2020 that you had to cancel or postpone it? What was the impact?

My husband and I just published a book with Kehrer Verlag called “The Edge of Knowing", which came out in the US in February. This year was supposed to be a year of promoting it, with multiple book signings and exhibitions, photo fairs, and festivals, like Paris Photo NY, Photo London, and Arles. All of those have been canceled, thus our book might have not gotten as much attention as we wished for. Hopefully, we will still be able to do something with it next year, if things come back to normal.

» Since quarantine started, did you start any new projects, pick up any new hobbies, develop new abilities, etc?

As always I tried to stay busy and occupy myself with different tasks. I am not a person who can stay still, thus I convinced my husband to repaint our apartment in Brooklyn. We also did a renovation of the kitchen and bathroom at our little cabin in the Catskills, planted a raised bed garden, and canned a lot of cucumbers, and made salsas with tomatillos that we grew. I also started baking sourdough bread and got quite good at it.

As for the art projects, while in lockdown I started photographing clouds and stormy skies from our rooftop and the upstate cabin. I hope to turn it into a project. I also tried some weaving and making collages with my images from my previous work.

» If so, is there anywhere online we can see what you've been up to?

My Instagram accounts would be the best place to find it:

@magdabiernat_studio for my personal work;

@magdabiernat_photography for my architectural work;

@blueberryhillhouse for bread baking and upstate cabin living.

» Any advice for people who are losing their minds and looking for new things to do/try?

I am not sure if I am the best person to give advice, as I don't think I stayed as creative as I wish I did. But staying busy with other things kept me sane.

» Any tips on music to listen to, books to read, film/tv shows to watch, anything like that?

A few books that I managed to read during this time, which I was way overdue to do, were: “Becoming” by Michelle Obama, “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt, and “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. All highly recommend if you haven't read them yet. I also binge-watched way too many shows. A few that stick out: “Succession”, “Schitt's Creek”, “I May Destroy You” and “Watchmen”.

» What are the best channels/social media for people to be following you?

My website: magdabiernat.com and Instagram: @magdabiernat_studio for my personal work and @magdabiernat_photography for my architectural work

if you enjoyed this conversation, you may enjoy the other ones from the series by clicking here.

Before & After: Williamsburg Bridge

This is not going to be a post about why every Photographer should be always shooting in RAW mode, but to talk about a specific tool inside Lightroom instead: the Transform tool - which in my opinion, is one of the most powerful ones.

As an Architecture enthusiastic, I'm a huge fan of ultra-wide lenses, giving me the opportunity to fit much more of the subject in the frame without having to move that farther out. But one of the disadvantages of using a wide-lens is that, the closer you get to your subject, the more distorted it will look in the frame, especially on the perimeters. Unless you are using a tilt-shift lens (like a 24mm or a 17mm), of course, which wasn't my case.

When revisiting some photos I took of the Williamsburg Bridge (NYC) back in 2017, I came across this classic view under the bridge, from Manhattan looking towards Brooklyn. Before getting into any color correction and lighting adjustments, I focused on correcting the perspective of the bridge, wanting to achieve a more realistic look as opposed to all the distortion caused by the lens. On using the "Transform" panel (normally the third from the bottom), all I had to do in this case was to select the "guided" option and, using 2 lines to guide me, trace them in parallel to each side of the bridge. And just like magic, Lightroom brings back the original perspective that you'd see by standing at the location from where this picture was taken. From there, I manually adjusted the "Aspect" and "Scale" little by little until I got the results I was looking for.

Williamsburg Bridge, NYC | © Leonardo Mascaro

To finish up, I went through all the usual basic adjustments I normally do for all my work, to achieve the lighting and colors of my signature style. Here's a before and after of the process:

Williamsburg Bridge, NYC | © Leonardo Mascaro

📸 • Equipment used to take this photograph: Canon 6D + Canon 16/35mm 2.8

🎙 • Soundtrack while writing this post: Partir, by Nuven

VIΛ 57WEST, New York City

On a recent class I took at ICP, one of the assignments was to shoot a modern building of our choice, exploring the various angles and details. As soon as I've heard the words I already knew which one I wanted to photograph.

The VIΛ 57WEST is one of NYC’s newest residential buildings, located in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, and was designed by the Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).