Stephen Berkman's "Chamber Pieces"

Stephen Berkman's new exhibition, "Chamber Pieces," is a study in what happens when a modern sense of whimsy meets the 19th century. The show at the Laband Art Gallery on the campus of Loyola Marymount University presents a series of photos and installations rooted in centuries-old techniques such as camera obscura and ambrotype. Shown above is "The Sharpshooter and the Songbird."

"I see my work as a coda to the 19th century," said Berkman, who styles his subjects to appear from the past and melds a bit of modernism within the image to create a collision of cultures. The photographs look to convey a magical, transcendental feeling to retell a story of bygone place and time.