icebear
Veteran
Positively ... I heard about the coming tear down and went there to shoot a little, I think 2 weeks later I read in the paper that is was gone.
NYC-Brooklyn Advice Needed
- Thread starter parasko
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parasko
Established
Wow, this is turning into a very informative thread you guys! Some great advice and I love all the anecdotes!!
Thank God I didn't just rely on Tripadvisor -New York neighourhoods for advice! 😛
Thank God I didn't just rely on Tripadvisor -New York neighourhoods for advice! 😛
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Positively ... I heard about the coming tear down and went there to shoot a little, I think 2 weeks later I read in the paper that is was gone.
Klaus,
Where 5 Pointz was will be two towers built upon a shopping mall. Expect something like the AOL Time Warner complex at Columbus Circle.
The LIC waterfront redevelopment was a project called "Queens West," and now there is a second project called "Queens South" that will double the housing along the waterfront.
When I lived in LIC, if I needed a drug store I basically got on a subway and went to Madhattan because there were no drug stores in LIC. The local grocery store I once called "Mugger's Alley" because everything was so overprice, even though the quality was low. It kinda was nothing more than a glorified bodega. "Maggie" began to call our local grocery store "Mugger's" for short and the name stuck. Basically anything you bought made you feel like you were being ripped off.
At least twice a month I would walk to Astoria with either a wagon or cart to bulk up on groceries at Costco. More or less it was like camping out, even though we were one stop from Madhattan.
If you look at the zoning on NYC.gov you can clearly see the future. Within a decade NYC will be 10 million people. All the infrastructure being built: extending the 7 train to the Westside; LIRR on the Eastside; a brand new Penn Station; a brand new Second Avenue subway; Hudson Yards; Queens South...
There is already talk of covering over Sunnyside yards. If high rises are buit it could easily accommodate a million people alone. It is just a matter of time. Within just 5 years Hudson Yards and Queens South will be finished and that is 400K-600K people bringing the population to 9 million alone.
LaGuardia also will be renovated. Anyways let's get shooting. Never before has the city dramatically changed so much. For many decades NYC hovered around 8 million, sometimes less, but today the count is currently 8.4 million.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
NYC is a very dynamic and dramatically changing city.
The more you know about history the deeper you will appreciate what was and what is transforming.
I did a lot of exploration of Newtown Creek which extends about 4-4.5 miles inland into Long Island. Newtown Creek is what devides Queens from Brooklyn and it is almost exclusively an all industrial area with only tiny spots of housing. Mostly an area of heavy industry like oil refineries. It is said that over time leakage of oil has contaminated the groundwater in Greenpoint with an oil spill bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill. In the summer in some places you can actually smell the oil, yet it was only pretty recently declared a superfund site. Know that raw sewage started being dumped there as early as 1853.
If you look on a subway map you will notice that there is no subway service, and buss service is kinda limited. Anyways there is this kinda vacant space that is kinda neglected, run down, and kinda moody, but even this area has changed. Glad I shot mucho this area during the Great Recession.
Funny thing is I live on 101st Street and Lex in Spanish Harlem. My neighbors that are locals told me the history of my street. Tony a black man said the block was segragated. Blacks on one side and Italians on the other. Where a small park exists today (Sunshine Park) use to be some tenement buildings. One caught fire and it spread to another.
Tony said block by block was fraught with danger. Going uptown to the Public Pool one didn't do alone, and you basically had to form a gang for protection because the Italians defended their neighborhood. Of course all this changed when Puerto Ricans moved in. Another black neighbor Maggie told me that she avoids going uptown to 106th Street, explaining it is nasty up there, even though it is only 5 blocks away.
I live one block north from where Bruce Davidson used a large format camera to document the urban poverty that existed in the late 60's. The body of work was called "East 100th Street."
There is still mucho poverty, but know things are better. Also know that there is one of the biggest rat infestations in NYC from 102d Street to 116th Street where you see rats during the day. Along the Avenues are non-stop housing projects.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Klaus,
BTW I lived just down the block from 5 PointZ. I document that place pretty well with both film and digital.
Cal
BTW I lived just down the block from 5 PointZ. I document that place pretty well with both film and digital.
Cal
The first time we ever hung out I went to that house. Cal's camera collection was small at the time... believe it or not.
Huss
Veteran
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
Why do I love to live in neglected, abandoned, run down places?
Anyways it is in these places that I photograph the most. LIC was a very rich place to mine. I could go shooting after work. If I want a long walk I can visit easily the South Bronx.
Queens plaza, the waterfront, 5 Pointz, and Newtown Creek were all close and just a walk away.
I wish I was into shooting back when I lived in Greenpoint. Not far from my house was the BQE and in the industrial areas that were remote I saw a Stop sign that someone used as a target to check out the spread of a 12 guage shotgun. I say by the pattern the shot was maybe 12-15 feet. Pretty much would of ventilated a person.
Another time I discovered all these dead seagulls that were shotgunned that were caught feeding on garbage.
This was the era during the housing boom before 2005.
Cal
pixelated
Established
Any new advice for visiting NYC?
I have a work trip coming up, next week and the week after. Haven't decided what to bring for cameras, but I'm figuring on keeping it simple with a 35mm body and a lens or two. I'll be in Manhattan. Not too much interested in the touristy stuff except for some of the museums and galleries. Would be happy to meet up for in-person guidance, photo walks.
I have a work trip coming up, next week and the week after. Haven't decided what to bring for cameras, but I'm figuring on keeping it simple with a 35mm body and a lens or two. I'll be in Manhattan. Not too much interested in the touristy stuff except for some of the museums and galleries. Would be happy to meet up for in-person guidance, photo walks.
NY_Dan
Well-known
Man one time in Brooklyn, way way back when I had to kick some beaucoup badasses with my Kung-fu moves (learned from watchng David Carradine) - and while doing an inverted aerial double-kick split I captured it all with an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic - handheld at 1 sec and sharp as a tack. If you have moves like mine, you will be A-OK during the day. But at night you might need a flash.
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
This heat wave in the mid-Atlantic region is perfect for one of the Calzone "death marches." I think there was a little subconscious planner inside Cal that picked the hottest days of the year to walk 10 miles through urban decay. Much like being on patrol in Iraq with regard to heat, endless walking, thirst, hunger and sore feet. They were good journeys though with a lot of good photos made.
Phil Forrest
Phil Forrest
stompyq
Well-known
It's free on weekends. You need a ikea receipt to avoid the fare ride on weekdays
NY_Dan
Well-known
Just buy a $1.00 Ikea cinna-bun - tasty and cheap
stompyq
Well-known
pm me if you want to meet and shoot. I'm generally out most weekend days photographing.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
P,
Unless you are a big time 50mm shooter a wide might might be a better choice. In a crowded urban area it is pretty easy to get mighty close to people and crowds especially in Madhattan.
I say this because traveling light without a camera bag has its advantages. Also really good to be nimble. Would be a mistake to carry a lot of gear.
Cal
kshapero
South Florida Man
Beg to differ. Brooklyn is very crime ridden, ugly, crowded and filled with despicable people. I love going there over the last 50 years. Never been held up yet. (Poor attempt at comedy)😀
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
BTW Photovillage is now located on 34th Street across from B&H.
Cal
Cal
kshapero
South Florida Man
That is good news. I always make a pilgrimage there when I am in the city.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Pentode
Well-known
To the West, North and South, very. To the East, not always.
You mentioned some of the high points already. Dumbo is a cool area to shoot. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Brooklyn Navy Yards, Industry City, the Lower East Side/Alphabet City/East Village area, the entire waterfront of Manhattan....
I second the suggestion to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. In fact, do it twice; once at midday and once at night! I've been shooting at Coney Island for over 25 years and still find it a fascinating place to shoot. The Flatiron district, the former garment district, Chelsea.... These are all areas where I shoot a lot.
Documented, there are about 8 million people in NYC. The real number is probably closer to 10 or 12. If you like taking pictures of people, you'll find some here! 😉 I find almost every neighborhood interesting to shoot in.
As far as neighborhoods to avoid: Brownsville, East New York, parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the South Bronx. There are still a few sketchy areas in the city, but not that many anymore. Keep your wits about you - ALWAYS - and you'll be fine.
PM me when you get here and we can go shoot!
