Fort Greene, Brooklyn
I visited New York back in March. It was my third time visiting the city, but the previous two times I had stayed in Manhattan. I was already doing photography at the time, but my eye and approach was different . Back then I was shooting digital and mostly cared about photographing the landmarks (Empire State building, Times Square, etc.).
This time around was a bit different. I wanted to place myself somewhere where I could feel and move like a local. I wanted to pretend that I was a local photographer capturing everyday shit like I do back home. However, this was a family trip, so going to the landmarks was unavoidable, but I convinced my family to stay in the neighborhood of Fort Greene in Brooklyn.
Fort Greene, the home of Ol’ Dirty Bastard and 40 Acres and Mule Filmworks (Spike Lee’s production company) struck me as a neighborhood that was mostly gentrified, but still maintained some of its core identity. Fort Greene is an area in Brooklyn where one could find those classic brownstone buildings Brooklyn is known for, especially in South Portland Avenue, right below Fort Greene Park, which was my favorite thing about the neighborhood. During my stay, I walked through the park everyday to get to the subway, but it wasn’t til’ my last day in New York that me and my girlfriend decided to fully explore the park, and we loved it. It was full of diversity and friendly people.
I walked early in the mornings by myself almost everyday to soak everything in, with a hot coffee on one hand, and a camera on the other. The mornings were very calm and quiet, and the people that I encountered on the streets went about their day in the manner most New Yorkers do. I truly felt like a local during those moments.
I wish I could've explored other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but like I noted earlier, it was a family trip so I was in Manhattan for the majority of the time. I’ll be back though, that’s a promise.
Here are some images made with my Olympus XA and Pentax 67.
