Portfolio - Phillip Glombik

Portfolio

My best work, the stuff I am really proud of! No snapshots, no quick pics.

When It Awakes
After spending several hours on top of the Rockefeller Centre, the sun finally went away and people started to turn on their lights. I had a clear vision as to what I wanted to create in my image- a vast concrete jungle with intense colours and the feeling of business. And that is exactly what I got! -Phillip
The Never-Sleeping Bamboo Forest
This is one of the most famous bamboo forests near Kyoto, Japan. Arashiyama Bamboo Grove looks absolutely stunning when you walk through or whenever you see it in pictures - however, there is one thing that comes with the fame: tourists. Like me, hundreds of people everyday make their way to the forest to take selfies and whatnot and it is a real challenge to get a picture of the place without anyone. A challenge that I failed, I might add, as you can see some people in the very centre. I visited the forest twice - the first time was around lunch time and there was no chance to take any great photo. Ok, so the next morning I woke up earlier and arrived at 7 AM - just to find 20 people just like me that already took camp at this very well photographed spot. This is as close as I ever came to having this place empty. - Phillip

New York in a Frame
This image was totally unplanned. When I went to Central Park, I hoped to spend the evning on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - from where I have been told you can look over the trees in the Park and get an awesome view! So I rocked up at the museum just in time for sunset, went in... and they told me that the rooftop is closed in the winter. This was bad - so I decided to simply run back to the southern entrance of Central Park (that is about 1.8 km!) to get at least the rest of the sunset with what I remembered to be an awesome skyline. I made it just in time - the light in the buildings were already on, but this only added to the last light that I could see from the sunset and made it more interesting. In the end I was not too mad that I missed the sunset that I had planned. After all, I probably should have seen that when checking and researching haha. -Phillip

Hyper Bird
In Japan, you have the opportunity to visit so called owl cafes, which is exactly what it sounds like - you go in and have a coffee while being surrounded by owls (and some other birds). This little fella here is from Nara, a famous place in Japan that is crawling with deer in the city centre. When we finished checking out the local temples and had enough of taking photos of deer, we found an owl cafe on our way to the train station. The rule is simple - get in, get a coffee, and stay no more than 1 hour. There are also some birds that you cannot touch, either because they are on break or because they simply dont like it. Initially it feels odd to see so many birds chained to a relatively small area - especially considering there were some owls that were massive! However, we have been told the birds are very well kept after and before opening hours, and any sign of stress would have the bird brought to an open area right away for the remainder of the day. One may think whatever about keeping birds in a cafe like that - but it was an interesting experience for sure. When I was in the cafe, this bird here was on break, meaning no touching or getting too close. -Phillip

Autumn in Ireland
Autumn - one of the greatest times to own a camera. It is not just about the new places that you can visit to get some awesome colours in the vegetation, but you also have the chance to revisit places you have been to a hundred times to see them in a different light. This place is called Glendalough (Ireland) and I have been here so so many times! But - never when the trees changed colours. In fact, when I arrived I barely recognised the place! The weather was dull, light rain in the air and just a few people (usually you have a bazillion tourists there) but nevertheless some great colours in the trees that cover the mountains around the valley. The only downside was that I had to clean my lens every 1.5 min to remove little drops, and changing the lens was not the greatest idea I had... This was the day before storm Ophelia hit Ireland, which explains the calm water. -Phillip

A Walk Through Rainy Tokyo
I spent one evening at the famous Shinjuku Crossing, one of the busiest crossings in the world. Of course, it started to rain like there is no tomorrow - but other than most people, I have no problem with rain in cities at night at all. The reflections and vibrant colours really are something else! But back to the point, the rain was so mad! You can see it in the photo itself - in case you are wondering, I am cowering under a huge umbrella trying not to get drops on my lens. The scenario ended with me falling backwards and getting everything wet - worth it! -Phill

The Professional Photographer
So this was actually a little funny - I spent some time at Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, when it started to rain badly. Now, the couple that you see in the image had booked a professional photographer for the evening that came prepared - he pulled out a couple of umbrellas right away and every time the light would turn green, all of them would run to the centre of the road. The couple then quickly changed into a hugging/kissing position and the photographer took about 4000 pictures. They repeated this for about 30 min, going back and forth. I was running around, too, but in the end decided to take a quick shot as well. On the left, you can actually see the arm of the photographer - as he completes the story of my image, I have decided not to crop him out or photoshop him away. Thanks to the couple and the photographer for the nice scene! -Phill