I am a photographer based in Brooklyn.
I am passionate about dance and performance. Nothing brings me joy like photographing dance.
If you move, I want to work with you!
I also love New York City’s public life and world cultures, the annual calendar of events from the polar bear plunge at Coney Island on New Year’s Day, Phagwah in Richmond Hill to Pride and the Panamanian Day Parade in Crown Heights to name just a few.
I have spent 15 years documenting environment issues including climate change, the fossil fuel industries and ecological restoration. I tackled the issue of legacy pollution in Toxi City: Brooklyn’s Brownfields, 2009, photographing over 50 brownfield sites in Brooklyn. Since 2010, in the series Castles Made of Sand, I have been documenting the waterfront communities in New York City that are most directly impacted by sea level rise. In the series Our Neighborhood, shot in neighborhoods around the United States that live with the infrastructure of fossil fuels, I created a series of visual metaphors for the resignation with which we live with climate change. Most recently, I have documented some of the areas in the US dependent on coal in an effort to consider what it would really take to stop burning this fuel altogether.
While these interests may seem contradictory, dance and culture provide me with the pleasure, optimism and hope necessary to believe in the future.
Client List
American Dance Guild, Artichoke Dance, Center for Performance Research, City Lore, Connelly Theater, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Earth Celebrations, Isadora Duncan Dance Company, MATA Festival, The Jericho Project, The Times Square Project
Solo and Two-person Exhibitions
2021
Our Neighborhood, St. Joseph’s University, Merion Hall Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2020
Industrial Sights: Photographs by Matthew Kaplan and Robin Michals,
Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN
2016
Castles Made of Sand, The Living Room Gallery, St. Peter’s Church, NY, NY
2009
Toxi City: Brooklyn’s Brownfields, The Brooklyn Lyceum, Brooklyn, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Breaking More Boundaries, CultureLab LIC, Astoria, Queens, NY
https://www.culturelablic.org/breaking-boundaries
2022
In the Wake, The Doris C. and Alan J. Friedman Digital Gallery, The Municipal Art Society, New York, NY
https://www.mas.org/photo_exhibitions/in-the-wake/
The Flag Project: Only One Earth,Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Brooklyn Utopias: Along the Canal, Old Stone House, Brooklyn, NY
2021
The Fruit is a Restless Desire, Colin C Diboll Gallery, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
Critical Mass 2019 Top 50, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
We are still here…, Portraits of Our Resilient Brooklyn Community, Arts Gowanus and the Old Stone House, a public outdoor installation in Washington Park, Brooklyn NY.
2020
Tokyo International Photography Competition 7 Turbulence exhibits: Photoville, Brooklyn, NY, T3 Photo Festival, Tokyo, Japan, PhotoIreland Festival at The Library Project, Dublin, Ireland
Brooklyn Utopias, Old Stone House, Brooklyn, NY
#ICPConcerned, International Center for Photography, New York, NY
2019
The FENCE 2018, United Photo Industries, Brooklyn, NY (with traveling sites in Durham, NC; Denver, CO; Santa Fe, NM; Boston, MA; Sarasota, FL; Calgary, Canada; and Atlanta, GA)
https://fence.photoville.com/artist/our-neighborhood/
Portfolio Showcase: Our Neighborhood, Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY
Urban Landscape, Texas Photographic Society, Houston, TX
2017
Shifting Perspectives: Photographs of Brooklyn’s Waterfront, Brooklyn Historical Society DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Staten Island Unlimited, Alice Austen House, Staten Island, NY
2013
Rising Waters 2.0: More Photographs of Sandy, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Documenting Sandy, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Brooklyn’s Waterfront: Past, Present, Future, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
Art That Iterates, Teacher’s College Gallery, New York, NY
The Peekskill Project: The Virtual Valley, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Recent Publications – Images
2022 Bittle, Jake. “Is Managed Retreat the answer?,” Architectural Record, June 1, 2022. 2 images.
2022 Edwards, Jessy. “Residents of Low-Lying Brooklyn Share Growing Concern Over Rising Sea Levels and Increasing Flood Risks,” BKReader, May 5, 2022. 5 images.
2021 Waldeck, Noah. Investigations in Infrastructure, Subjectively, Objective, P. 14
2020 Newsweek Japan, Picture Power: Our Neighborhood, 5/19/2020, PP.62-67
2020 Float Magazine Portfolio – Our Neighborhood
2019 F-Stop Magazine Consumption Issue, 6 images
2019 Underwater New York: The Governors Island Issue. Artist Portraits.
http://underwaternewyork.com/governorsislandresidencyissue2
2019 Hope(less). Zine. Published by VVisions.co.uk. 2 images.
https://www.vvisions.co.uk/product/vvisions-hope-less
Talks and Presentations
2021 “Our Neighborhood,” webinar with Ed Weiner of Philadelphia’s Department of Health’s Air Management Services hosted by St. Joseph’s University, Feb 10, 2021
2020 Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center: Brooklyn Utopias, panel on exhibit, October 9, 2020
2019 The FENCE Walking Tour and Teen Day, Brooklyn, NY
2018
Castles Made of Sand: The Rockaways. SPE Northeast Regional Conference, SUNY New Paltz
2017
Hurricane Sandy, Five Years Later. Interview. Audio blog post. Flatbush + Main. Brooklyn Historical Society, <http://www.brooklynhistory.org/blog/2017/10/03/flatbush-main-episode-18-hurricane-sandy-five-years-later/>.
2016
Triennial Talks: Staten Island as Place. Alice Austen House, Staten Island, NY. April 10, 2016.
2012
Abused and Reused: The Brooklyn Waterfront. St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Toxi City: Brooklyn’s Brownfields. Dreamland Pavillion: Brooklyn and Development, KCC, Brooklyn, NY
Residencies
2018, 2019
Photographer-in-residence, Underwater New York/Works on Water, Governors Island, New York, NY
2015
Visiting Artist – Brooklyn Navy Yard
Press
Pete, Joseph S. “ ‘Industry Sites’ exhibit depicts heavy industry,” Northwest Indiana Times, July 20, 2020, P. B11
O’Leary, Fionnuala. ” It’s Photo Friday! And We Have a IWD Winner!” The Wave News. March 8, 2019.
https://www.rockawave.com/articles/its-photo-friday-and-we-have-a-winner-11/
Duncan, Meredith. “BHS DUMBO: Photographer Robin Michals reflects on the Brooklyn waterfront.” Brooklyn Historical Society blog. August 3, 2017.
http://www.brooklynhistory.org/blog/2017/08/03/bhs-dumbo-photographer-robin-michals-reflects-on-the-brooklyn-waterfront/
Gustafson, Andrew. Robin Michals Documents Change Along Brooklyn’s Waterfront. Turnstile Tours Blog. July 14, 2015.
http://turnstiletours.com/robin-michal-documents-change-along-brooklyns-waterfront/
May, Julie. Documenting Sandy-Photographer Highlight. Brooklyn Historical Society Blog. January 31, 2014
http://www.brooklynhistory.org/blog/tag/robin-michals/
Lees, Kathleen, “Exhibit Showcases the Changing Waterfront,” Queens Ledger, September 6, 2012, p. 16
Berke, Ned. “Photoblogger Documents Coast Before the Storm,” Sheepshead Bites, July 12, 2011
http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2011/07/photoblogger-documents-coast-before-the-storm/
The Daily News, Oct. 20, 2009, Boro’s poison past in pictures of today by Elizabeth Lazarowitz, Brooklyn News p. 4, http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/10/20/2009-10-20_boros_poison_past_in_pictures_of_today.html
Grants
2009
Brooklyn Arts Council Department of Cultural Affairs Regrant Program
Puffin Foundation
Employment
2003-present
Professor, Photography, Communication Design Department, New York City College of Technology, CUNY
Education
Columbia University, M.F.A.
Barnard College, B.A. summa cum laude