First Impressions: Photographs by Don Sichler opened in the Museum’s Upper Gallery on Sunday, March 13, on view through April 24.

After taking a break from photography for 20 years, Don Sichler, who had been a dedicated “street” photographer when he was younger, got the bug again when he bought new digital camera in 2005. Twenty-five years earlier, he had considered himself a documentary photographer searching for the “decisive moment” using black and white images that he could develop himself. But with the new camera, he found himself on a completely new tack, inspired by color and light and taking more abstract images, which he crops and manipulates for hue, contrast, brightness and saturation using his home computer. That frees the viewer up to appreciate the photos almost as paintings, with the interplay of color, light, patterns and surprising details in this series.

Last year, the Queens native and his wife and son moved to Hoboken from Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He’s retired from a career as a special education teacher and before that as a medical technologist. He’d never visited Hoboken until he came here with a hiking group—armed with his digital camera—about a year earlier, and noticed immediately how distinct the city was from its neighbors, in that it hadn’t been completely remade by redevelopment ment. He also liked Hoboken’s walkability.

His photos reflect miles of exploring the nooks and crannies of the Mile Square City, from waterfront reflections to abandoned buildings and empty lots to details of adapted former factories.

“I look for the beauty in ordinary things,” he explains. He’s mostly selftaught as a photographer, he says, but he’s also taken a number of workshops and joined several photographers’ groups. Since 2006, his work has been shown in more than 20 juried and group exhibitions. He’s already joined the local artists’ cooperative, hob’art, and looks forward to more urban photo safaris here.

The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. Photograph by Don Sichler

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