Engel returned to the streets of New York City in the 70's and 80's and loved roaming the city to find interesting faces, people, scenes and compositions. He first photographed in black and white, and then switched to color and loved doing the panoramas. He would use several different cameras, but most often a combination of either two or three camera bodies that he put together, and he rigged it so the shutter would go off at the same time. This camera allowed him to get close to his subjects without distortion.