Fire Island (twice), 2010

One of my better mistakes.

It took a couple of weeks, but I finally managed to take my first portrait. This is Ruben, I met him in Sunset Park last Sunday.

Honestly, this photograph was all Ruben’s idea. I was taking a picture of a storefront on 4th Avenue and he was sitting nearby—he actually came up and introduced himself to me. He asked if I would take a picture with him and his lottery tickets. I was completely floored and just went along with it.

I had unsuccessfully approached a couple of other people that week and was starting to wonder if I needed to rethink things. In the end, the opportunity just presented itself, and it worked out perfectly. I think I just need to be receptive and make myself available for these kinds of moments rather than trying to seek them out too aggressively.

As you may have noticed, I have changed my focus in the last couple of weeks from the natural landscape to an urban one. Summer seems like a natural time to get started on a couple of side projects I’ve been thinking about. The first of these is an exploration of the neighborhoods along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which happens to pass near my house.

I started poking around in the Carroll Gardens/Red Hook area and am now making my way south toward Sunset Park and Bay Ridge. I am thinking I will also eventually head north into Williamsburg and Greenpoint and then on to Queens.

While my first couple of explorations have focused on the landscape and exterior details of the neighborhood, I am becoming more and more interested in the people that live and work here as well. I have not done many portraits before and I expect it to be a challenge, but I really would like to meet some people that live in the area and include them in the project.

Last weekend I spoke with a woman whose family has lived on the same block for three generations. Her grandmother watched as warehouses and factories slowly replaced their residential neighborhood. Her grandmother’s house is one of the last on the block, just a few doors down from a Department of Sanitation depot, and yet still looks like a perfectly preserved piece of the 1950s.

The photo above is from another such block: residential, commercial, and industrial all mixed together. Urban density fascinates me, as do decorative details like those lions.

I keep trying to make out what the sign underneath says. As best as I tell, it’s “USED TIRS, BOUGHT AND SOLD”, but I can’t be sure.

Fire Island, 2009
click image for larger view

I spent a lot of time on this beach over the winter. It wasn’t until June that I discovered that it was clothing optional!

There’s something about walking along the highway that has always appealed to me. In this case, the Shore Parkway actually has a very nice bike path that goes through some beautiful scenery. Every once in a while, I’ll come across a path that leads deep into the undergrowth. Sometimes it leads into a field of poison ivy and briars, and sometimes it’s just a dead end. Every once in a while, though, one will open up into one of these secret places and it feels like a wonderland.