New York - Help - locations for social photo "dying parts of city life"

February 12th 2005

 

Dear Fellow Photographers,

 

I am a mature student (44) studying a diploma in photography at a

college in Devon UK.

The college is arranging a very short field trip for 5 days visiting

NYC, March 7 to 11th. Although I travel with and under the aegis of

the college as a mature student my brief is to design my own

individual photography projects around this trip.

 

I have been to NYC many times before and I have tried to get a

handle on what exactly I want to try "focussing" on

.

I could so easily be

drawn into going for tourist shots of wonderful tall buildings etc.

 

I am after some advice to help me produce some work which has real

value. Let me explain.

 

 

Perhaps I could broadly say that I want to try to do some social

documentary/fine art photos. Here are my themes.

 

 

a) I want to try to take photos that show a part of the city that

perhaps will not exist in 10 years

( or 2 or whatever). I like photos of urban or industrial decay,

buildings from a former age, perhaps out of place,

waiting either a new life or demolition. I am interested in the

people who live and work in such places.

 

b) In my past life I have been in the merchant navy and travelled. I

saw red light areas, prostitution etc.

In the current climate with the US seeming - from afar anyway - to

becoming more moral and wishing to irradicate such adult

areas/activities I have

wondered whether this would be something that would tie in with a).

 

I choose this as an example but I also appreciate that other

minorities may feel

that their way of life is equally under pressure. So I am open to

further suggestions.

 

Of course safety and commonsense are in my mind and what I am also

trying to do is not blunder around aimlessly. Time will be very short

and I want to get a good body of work.

 

 

Therefore can anybody put me in touch with any people who could

advise on suitable locations and perhaps even give me some

introductions.

 

BY establishing my veracity and showing that I am not a "crazy weird

type person" before I go I therefore hope that I can get a good

collaboration going

and capture something that has meaning. I do not wish to put anybody

out, either in their time or any other way! I do not need

accomadation or anything else.

I do not need hand holding for 5 days!! I am talking about - heck

maybe a couple of hours!

 

I am stable and happy, have wife Helen, 2 super kids and a great

dog. I can supply references if required.

 

Russell Houghton

Barnstaple

United Kingdom

 

Email:- rnhoughton@btinternet.com

This will help with the research... the website below identifies districts and neighbourhoods. At the bottom of this first map you can click on individual neighbourhoods and there is a WEALTH of information, by district, on such things as the parks, schools, open public spaces, and other amenities (including addresses or other location information) that may lead you to something useful.

 

Within the individual PDFs for each district there is a zoning / land use map that could prove useful as well. Key streets are named and with an A-Z you should be able to use that as a navigator in general terms.

 

At least have a look at this material and it may help you target a shoot/theme and area of interest for intent.

 

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neighbor/neighl.html

 

You will also find this interesting:

 

http://www.walkingaround.com/

 

I am sending you a browser

 file by e-mail, off list, with 350+ links that you can use to do more research yourself. Click the file and it will open in your browser and all you need to do then is to select what you might want to look at and click the link... that will take you to the specific web page.

 

Hunter

I can now give you something of a target, given your remit, that you may like to consider... Little Italy, in lower Manhattan, has been contracting as an ethnic enclave for some years as the Italians have been moving to the burbs - whilst the adjacent Chinatown neighbourhood has been expanding into what was the Little Italy neighbourhood.

 

Little Italy, as a primary, and historic, Italian neighbourhood, will virtually cease to exist in future years. It is much smaller now - perhaps comprising only a few city blocks, than in its former glory.

 

If you choose to work there I am advised to tell you to use some care as there are Asian street gangs operating in and near Chinatown and anyone who "looks" like a "tourist" may encounter them. Dress and behave to blend in as well as possible; work days if possible; and, as would be a usual precaution for any photojournalist in an unfamiliar place, get local advice.

 

Hope you find this a useful lead.

 

Hunter

Here are some leads you can research on google news.

 

The Fulton Fish Market fas been in operation for 170 years and will be closed / relocated in a month or so.

 

The Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is loosing most of its industrial waterfront, the domino sugar refinery recently closed after something like a century of operation, but the buildings are still there.

 

The photo district is full of small photo labs that will probably go away soon.

 

The Red Hook area of Brooklyn was once an industrial waterfront and is about to be redeveloped with an Ikea store and or some parks.

 

Governors island in New York harbor was in use by the coast guard for a couple hundred years + . Redevelopment plans are fuzzy, but the barracks and the modern military buildings will probably disappear, the 200 year old fortifications will probably stay. There is a huge music festaval planed for there this summer

 

You just missed the old times square

There is a proposal (can't quite go so far as to say a plan) to cover over the rail yards on the west side of Manhattan and construct a mixed development of high-rises, commercial and residential properties. The area proposed for redevelopment comprises everything west of 8th Avenue between about 32nd street and 57th, which includes the famous "Hells Kitchen" area. One of the motivations behind this scheme is that it would include a major sports area that would be essential to NY's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

For several years now, Manhattan has been building a bikepath that ultimately is supposed

to circle once around the island. Much of that bikepath is already completed on

Manhattan's westside but there are still stretches that are, as of yet, not transformed but

which will cease existing soon. One such examply lies just south of Inwood Park at the

northern tip of Manhattan. There is a little boatbasin at the park entrance and toward the

south is a gate through wich you can walk. The path will lead you along the Henry Hudson

parkway (which is elevated here) and the train tracks, which run underneath. The area has

been left completely devoid of most city regulations but I have never felt threatened there

- even with camera equipment or an expensive mountain bike. However, there are a

number of people living in bare-bones self-constructed wooden huts that one oftentimes

associates with much poorer countries. I have found them to be very friendly and eager to

have a conversation. In summer, the area is also frequented by sunbathers (all male) who

use the area to sunbath nude and who occassionally enjoy their sexual freedom as well -

March will be a little too early, though. With the extension of the bikepath this area of

"lawlessness" will disappear completely. I used to explore the unknown areas of Manhattan

as best as I could when I still lived there, disregarding just about any bad reputation an

area may have, and have found this place to be unique. At any rate, I think it's the best I

can offer at this time.

 

You might also try to gather some information about the Hunts Point area in the Bronx,

which allegedly sports an illustrious nightly streetlife that runs counter current moralistic

trends in the US.

Another angle to your project might be to look at how the subjects you want to look at--

prostitution, red light districts, and ethnic areas--have not been irradicated at all, just

moved. As someone already pointed out above, Hunts Point in the Bronx is one such place,

although it has already been popularized in a long running documentary series on HBO.

This is very helpful so far, thankyou. I do hope that if anybody else has any further ideas they could let me know - Thanks

 

Russell Houghton

 

rnhoughton <at> btinternet.com

While you are researching which areas to target, I would suggest the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. There are still many old homes dating back to the turn of the century (19th). It's one of the few areas that has had very little gentrification. You should understand that the bulk of "urban redevelopment" took place in NYC in the 1950's and early 1960's. At that time there was a mass exodus of the middle class to surburban communities around the city. NYC reached the depth of its decay in the mid 1970's. Since that time many parts of the city have been recovering. In many cases, in the outer boroughs, refurbishing old homes, or convering old factories and warehouses to apartments, is more common than demolition.

 

If you need some assistance getting around the wilds of Brooklyn, let me know.

Russell,

Email me. I have some time to help you get around NYC and info about it and its outer Boroughs no guide books have. No problem.

 

http://www.pobega.com