In today’s am New York, a piece Ryan and I worked on about the bar scene in our ‘hood. Seriously, we had a blast at a rap showcase at the Production Lounge. And met some cool neighbors and had fun with friends. Click image for a larger view.
“Where’s My Park?!?” participants where a park should be. There is only one soccer field for 500 children.
I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and much of my recent work is related to the changes in the neighborhood over the last few years.? The Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezoning 4 years ago this month started things off.? Read the progress report here. There was a “Where’s My Park?!?” march organized by NAG, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth this past weekend. I tagged along and toured the locations along the waterfront where promised parks should be.? There is a video about the situation in Williamsburg, The Crash of Condo-Burg: A Walk in Brooklyn with N.A.G., and a discussion about Franklin Street.
When I first moved to Greenpoint almost 3.5 years ago, the intersection of Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue was pretty quiet. (Except for the Pencil Factory bar at the corner) Today, there are 8 bars in a one block radius, several new restaurants and retail stores. Now a speciality beer store, Brouwerij Lane, has opened. The triptych below tells the tale of a little garage adjacent at 76 Greenpoint Avenue and the story of many other buildings in the area.
November 2007
December 2008
May 2009
The final image was the most difficult to make. I wanted to shoot it from the same angle as the others, but with the no parking signs for the driveway removed, it was difficult to find a time with no cars blocking the facades. So I decided to shoot it during street cleaning times, but during the morning the store wasn’t open and the light wasn’t interesting. I considered moving our car there to save a space for an evening shoot, but I realized it wasn’t going to hold a large enough place. Luckily, I didn’t have to rent another car or get a friend in on the plan. One evening I was shooting in the area and was amazed, one by one the owners of the cars in front of the building moved out of the way. I had about 3 minutes before the spots were filled. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
While shooting for a story this weekend in Greenpoint, my husband yells at me to turn around just in time to grab this shot of old Bernie being carried down the street. The man carrying it, artist Paul Richard, is auctioning the portrait of the infamous schemer on his website.The auction ends May 8th.
I for one think it is a great piece of marketing. Of course it is likely the work will be used as an expensive dartboard.
See the article here. Time to rewrite my Greenpoint project statement.
See the article here. Time to rewrite my Greenpoint project statement.
My husband and I awoke to a strange noise, at least it was 10 am. It sounded like a cat meowing outside so I quickly verified our two cats were in and he went to see what it was. Turns out my landlady’s big orange cat who I had only seen once, was somehow stuck on top of an awning over the alleyway. We saw that there was a window right on the fire escape cracked just a few inches and it seems “Orange” (or whatever his Polish name is) had gotten out and landed on the awning a few feet under the fire escape. Our landlady wasn’t home, but I noticed a ladder in the yard and Ryan got it out to go fetch the cat down. As soon as it saw that, the cat freaked out and decided to jump back onto the fire escape and fit its way back inside the wind0w crack. I guess all it needed was a little encouragement.
UPDATE: I told the landlady about the morning’s event and showed her the picture, which was a shock to her. Turns out that “Orange” is actually called Coco. And Coco has a twin, Rocco, who was taken to the vet this morning because he was losing weight. My landlady said the vet found something and he was having surgery this afternoon. I guess Coco was freaking out without Rocco and decided to escape to find him?? Our thoughts are with Rocco and hope he and Coco can be reunited soon.
