Roy Engelbrecht: City Life

“Pull out a camera and all of a sudden, strange things happen,” laughs Roy Engelbrecht. For more than 50 years, Engelbrecht has specialized in architectural and landscape photography and every picture, as they say, tells a story. Engelbrecht remembers them all, starting with the day his best friend gave him a box camera for his 8th birthday. That was in Aruba, where Engelbrecht grew up (he’s still fluent in Dutch). “From that day on I was hooked. I’ve only ever really been interested in photography.”

Based on the North Side, Engelbrecht works all over the country. But his heart is in Pittsburgh, as these images can attest. “I look for unusual things, things that are there but as Sherlock Holmes would say, people see things but they don’t observe them. I look for shapes and colors and patterns, the lines have to have continuity and flow. The photos that most exemplify this are the Alcoa Building and the chapel. Everything comes together there.”

A self-described “tech junkie,” Engelbrecht delights in the creative freedom digital photography has given him. “It opened up so many doors. All of a sudden I wasn’t depending on a lab. I could make decisions myself about color, saturation, contrast, all the things you look for in an image. I would have to say if you’re a good photographer, it’s not a job, it’s a passion. It’s something you just have to get out.”

Prints of these photos and more are available at clients.royephoto.com/pqgallery.