The Poetry of First Light exhibition asks you to look at the same view 31 times, and it runs free through December 30. Philadelphia photographer Raymond Carballada stood in one spot on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps at sunrise for 31 consecutive mornings and photographed the skyline each time. The 31 black-and-white prints now hang on the second floor of Hyatt Centric Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia.
What The Poetry of First Light exhibition reveals
Every photograph uses the same framing and the same focal length, according to InLiquid. Carballada shot the series in May 2024, and the skyline never moves. The sun, the clouds, the fog and the air do. Two of the titles give you the idea. One is dated May 2 and labeled Fog & Mist, and another is dated May 23 and labeled developing thunderstorms.
Working only in black and white takes color out of the argument, so what is left to look at is tone, contrast and form. I think the constraint in The Poetry of First Light exhibition does the editing: with the view fixed, the only thing worth your attention is what changes. I have not seen the prints yet, so that is my read of the description and not a review.
The Poetry of First Light exhibition began as a bet. Carballada committed to the 31 mornings before he knew whether there was anything there. “I had no idea what I’d get,” he says, and he adds that this kind of uncertainty usually produces something interesting and unexpected.
The Photographer Behind The Poetry of First Light exhibition
Carballada began photographing at 12, after saving for a year to buy his first 35mm film camera. His bio says that having limited vision in one eye sharpened his sensitivity to form and light. He studied black-and-white photographic processes at the Rochester Institute of Technology, then spent much of his career leading creative teams in the media industry before returning to fine art photography.
He prints all of his own work and treats the finished print as the artwork. His photographs have been exhibited in Philadelphia, Paris, London, Portland, Warren, Pennsylvania and Vermont, including a solo show at Crary Art Gallery. He has won a Bronze Award at the Paris International Street Photography Awards, and he has made commissioned pieces for private collectors and architectural spaces.
Where to See The Poetry of First Light exhibition
The show hangs at Hyatt Centric Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, 1620 Chancellor Street, as part of the hotel’s ongoing Maker Series with InLiquid. It opened September 9 and runs through December 30, 2026. According to the release, The Poetry of First Light exhibition is free and open to the public. Neither the release nor InLiquid lists viewing hours, so call the hotel before you go.
If you find the hotel under its old name on a listing, it rebranded from Hyatt Centric Center City earlier this year. The hotel also has an on-site restaurant and bar called Patchwork, which makes an easy stop after you have seen the prints.
It is a quieter show than InLiquid’s photography exhibition on climate change, which uses the camera to document a crisis. This one uses it to document attention. Both ask you to slow down and read a photograph for what it is holding.
Look Again at The Poetry of First Light exhibition
Most of us have a skyline like this one, a view we pass so often that we have stopped seeing it. Carballada’s bet is that sustained attention can make it strange again, and 31 mornings on the Art Museum steps make a good case. Go on a gray afternoon, give the prints ten minutes, and then step out onto Chancellor Street and look again at a view you thought you knew.
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