Terry Amburgey's photography reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary. Telling a new story through a picture is his stated goal. Yet, his story is open-ended, and left for each viewer to interpret for himself. He handles a wide variety of subject matter in a distinctively dramatic style. His complex and compelling images can evoke a broad range of responses. Even though the subject matter may at times be ambiguous, the visual effect is direct and clear. He presents our ordinary visual world back to us in a radical new way. Exhibited in Tripping the Light Fantastic: An Exhibition of Fine Art Photography at Agora Gallery, 415 West Broadway, in Soho, from September 20 through October 10, Terry Amburgey's narrative brings us to an intense new level of appreciation for the visual beauty that surrounds us in his exhibition.

His interests range from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic. Close up studies of subjects that could be biological, botanical or inert are all treated with intense attention to extraordinary patterns of form and color. What you are actually looking at becomes irrelevant confronting the visual story created by the total abstract effect.

His exquisite broad vista landscapes place nature in the context of the cosmos. A mountain, a tree, the sea, or the sky become more than themselves in his photographs. They act as a link to the history of the planet, a glimpse into the universe. Amburgey creates a mood and conveys the immensity of the experience of nature. This approach is also applied to his inventive cityscapes that explore movement and light. His photographs create startling and fresh images of city scenes, a new narrative for the familiar.

He is also adept at exploiting the dramatic qualities of black and white photography, creating rich textured surfaces and dense concentrations of powerful dark and light contrasts. His compelling compositions have a monumental effect in black and white, in the tradition of great photographers of landscape as Ansel Adams.

Amburgey lives in Long Island, New York. His easy accessibility to the ocean and the beach enabled him to produce an extraordinary series of photographs that study the intersection of sand, sea and sky under apocalyptic lighting that is only possible when you are on location and able to capture an extraordinary visual moment.

Amburgey's photographs, Giclee prints, at times appear to render solid matter into atmospheric or nearly liquid states. His spectacular imagery is well served by Giclee technology that amplifies the color and crisp detail of his images, providing a dramatic narrative, a distinctive story that becomes unique for each viewer.

-- J. Taylor Basker