BIO
AL LEIBMAN

For the past six years, I’ve been photographing and filming the urban sanctuaries of Brighton Beach and Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY. So many elements contribute to this alluring and charming urban sea by the subway. Every season, including the dead of winter, I swim and capture this transformative energy that is at once healing, connecting and worthy of visual celebration. 

I’m a former TV-news cameraman/editor/producer. For the past several years, I’ve veered towards making short films and engaging in photography. Alongside those paths, I’ve been teaching various classes at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and other CUNY colleges. In select classes, I teach iphone videography and photography to students who are eager to use those skill sets to support local nonprofits in need of boosting their social media presence. My students often incorporate those visual skill sets into their fieldwork assignments. This approach to personal and professional development in the academic classroom offers opportunities for the students to develop their soft skills, including innovation, problem solving, and business communication, all highly marketable skill sets.

I’m just beginning my fifth consecutive year of winter swimming, about 3x weekly, at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, which is affectionately known as, “The medicinal waters off the coast of Southern Brooklyn.”