{"id":90728,"date":"2024-07-27T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/?p=90728"},"modified":"2025-03-07T10:27:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:27:27","slug":"the-eclectic-photography-life-of-dr-greg-gulbransen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2024\/07\/27\/the-eclectic-photography-life-of-dr-greg-gulbransen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eclectic Photography &#038; Life of Dr. Greg Gulbransen"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>What&#8217;s Up?<\/h3>\n<p>Nickerson Beach has been excellent; I have been loving the cloudy conditions but the sun is coming. I saw Billy Joel&#8217;s last and fiftieth performance at Madison Square Garden last. It was an amazing experience. At 75, his voice is still great and his strength and stamina amazing; he was on stage for 2 hours, forty five minutes non-stop. Needing a new fanny pack, I drove into the city to shop at B&#038;H before the show so I did not get back to my AirBnB until well after 1:00am. With clear skies and a NW wind I slept in on Friday. I did find the perfect fanny pack and will share the details here soon.<br \/>\nMultiple IPT veteran Monte Brown who is sharing my AirBnB in Lido Beach for the (extended) first Nickerson Beach IPT, arrived at 11:00am.<\/p>\n<p>Today is Saturday 27 July 2024. We will head to Nickerson early for a morning session. First timer Judy Stepenaskie will be joining us for 4 1\/2 days this afternoon. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. <\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s post documents the amazing and eclectic life of my good friend, Dr. Greg Gulbransen. I urge you to read everything below and watch the two videos, especially the second one that details the work he did on his new book, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ylSoly\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Say Less<\/a>. The Leica video below is a must watch. Say Less is a photo book. The images are beautiful, dramatic, and disturbing at once. In short, Greg is an amazing friend, doctor, person, and photographer. I look forward to seeing him at Nickerson again in early August.  <\/p>\n<h3>Adjectives That Describe Dr. Greg Gulbransen<\/h3>\n<p>Skilled; passionate; caring; loving; appreciative; hard working; well adapted; talented; driven; artistic; adventurous; brave, courageous, fearless, diligent; happy; extroverted; pleasant; brilliant; honest; trustworthy; gracious; amiable; curious; dedicated; wise; considerate; soft-spoken; generous; successful; accomplished; connected; grounded; affectionate; adaptable; creative; ambitious; pleasant; intelligent; affectionate; persistent; dynamic; kind; patient; genuine; efficient; heartfelt; amazing; awesome; positive; extraordinary; calm; stellar; adept; joyful; sincere, fearless; capable; organized; honorable; knowledgeable; relaxed; warm-hearted; virtuous; humble; and devoted. <\/p>\n<p>If you care to add any that I missed after watching the two videos, please do so by leaving a comment. <\/p>\n<h3>Dr. Greg Gulbransen<\/h3>\n<p>Greg started out shooting fashion but transitioned to documenting the lives of unique individuals with interesting stories. Greg loves meeting new people and tries to preserve their legacy with photography. Greg also enjoys the solace of cold weather wildlife. His images have been published in the New York Times, Daily Mail, ELLE, Marie Claire, Harper\u2019s Bazaar, Northwell Health, The Weather Channel, Spirit and Flesh, Grazia and Pandora to name a few. Some of Greg\u2019s documentary work has been featured on the A &#038; E Network\u2019s History Channel.<\/p>\n<p>You can check out his Photofolio site <a href=\"https:\/\/greggulbransenphoto.photofolio.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve known Greg seemingly forever. His life and his work have been documented here on the BAA Blog several times. His photography can only be described as eclectic. Early on, he began photographing birds and soon began to excel as a fashion and architectural photographer. More recently he has worked on self-assigned projects in West Virginia and in the South Bronx, NY, NY. <\/p>\n<p>To get a better idea of who Greg is, check out his Instagram page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/greggulbransenpeds\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. Virtually every one of his posts will put a smile on your face. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Greg Gulbransen Backed Over Son With Car, Gets Government To Set New Regulation\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/maO11U-aGTY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>The Tragedy<\/h3>\n<p>The story above has been shared here before. Greg took a huge tragedy and made sure that something good came of it. All while maintaining a healthy outlook and life, being happy, and accomplishing great things. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leica Conversations: Getting Closer: Building Trust in Photography\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EfbnL764Cgg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Say Less<\/h3>\n<h2><strong>Building Trust in Photography<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Over the course of three years, in the South Bronx, Dr. Greg Gulbransen photographed Malik, a leader of the violent street gang, the Crips. Malik was shot and paralyzed in 2018 by the bullet from a rival gang, and as a result his world now centers around his small Bronx apartment in New York, where he is cared for by his family and fellow gang members.<\/p>\n<p>Gulbransen, a practicing pediatrician, had been photographing in the Bronx during his spare time and had got to know some of the local kids. He began to notice a lot of young men in wheelchairs with spinal injuries and was professionally curious. He was told they had all been shot. He wanted to speak to someone in a wheelchair and was introduced to Malik through a fellow Crip. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018As a physician, it was a way to explore one facet of the epidemic of gun violence in this country. There are shootings every day in the five boroughs of New York City and the Bronx is the worst. But across the country, gun violence and the availability of guns is a public health emergency. The effects are devastating. The physician in me wants to show people who don\u2019t live in areas with high rates of gun violence how terrible it can be in these places, how complicated the problem is, how far-reaching the effects of the gun-violence epidemic are. The photographer in me is trying to show what it\u2019s like to be a victim of gun violence while also being a part of the problem.\u2019<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><center>ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder<\/center><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<h2><strong>Image #1: Malik&#8217;s bedroom in the Mitchel Houses, Bronx, NY<br \/>\nImage courtesy of and copyright 2024: Greg Gulbransen Photography<strong><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Shot and Paralyzed<\/h3>\n<p>One summer night in 2018, Malik left his apartment to pick up a sandwich for dinner. He was shot in front of a 99-cent store by a rival gang. The bullets severed Malik\u2019s thoracic spine and instantly paralyzed him from his chest down. Malik was one of the key leaders of the local set, and so, even after the shooting, gang members continued to come to his apartment at all hours of the day and night, to talk, plan and to take care of their leader.<\/p>\n<p>Malik lives with his mother and grandfather in a housing project. There are no nurses or aides to help with Malik\u2019s care so during the day his mother, Eyanna, manages his many medical issues such as changing his diaper and catheter, and his father is on call at night. The photographs in the book show Malik\u2019s day-to-day life, the cramped apartment, the difficulties of inhabiting and navigating the small space in a wheelchair, the visiting gang members, hushed conversations, the closeness and love of his family, and the proximity to violence and loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s a very emotional space. There\u2019s tension there, darkness, fear. It\u2019s a place of turmoil. Yet at the same time there was always so much love and caring. The apartment was filled with contradictions.\u2019<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><center>ngg_shortcode_1_placeholder<\/center><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<h2><strong>Image #1: Greg Gulbransen&#8217;s friend Malik<br \/>\nImage courtesy of and copyright 2024: Greg Gulbransen Photography<strong><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Trapped<\/h3>\n<p>To this day, Malik can\u2019t enter certain neighborhoods or travel down certain streets or there\u2019s a good chance a rival gang member will try to finish him off. His world is his bedroom. He is trapped.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m trying to complicate things for readers (hopefully) by showing that passing judgment on people like Malik might not, morally speaking, be as easy as it might seem. There are a lot of victims here and, yes, some of them are perpetrators, too. I\u2019m definitely not saying these guys are saints \u2014- they\u2019ve all made choices and they should absolutely be held accountable for those choices, but they\u2019re victims, too.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>You can pre-order a copy of Say Less <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ylSoly\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Typos<\/h3>\n<p>With all blog posts, feel free to <a href=\"mailto:samandmayasgrandpa@att.net\">e-mail<\/a><\/center> or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s Up? <\/p>\n<p>Nickerson Beach has been excellent; I have been loving the cloudy conditions but the sun is coming. I saw Billy Joel&#8217;s last and fiftieth performance at Madison Square Garden last. It was an amazing experience. At 75, his voice is still great and his strength and stamina amazing; he was on stage for [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-644","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90728"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90868,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90728\/revisions\/90868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}