David Alan Harvey Workshop, entry 10: As I head out to shoot my last-gasp attempt to get off Humilation Road I walk through the Hassidic neighborhood of The Loft
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:32PM ;)
David had asked me what I planned to do on this, the final shooting day. I told him that I was going to hit various places where I thought I might find some street preachers, from Columbus Circle to Ground Zero, and see what I could come up with.
No, he said, given the time left and the fact that I had come up with none the previous evening, I should just drop that idea. Sometimes, he said, despite our best efforts, we just run into stone walls, and that is what had happened to me so far, both with my Mormon missionaries and my street preachers.
"Go shoot the hell out of Times Square," he suggested. "You will never see anything like that in Wasilla."
"Okay," I agreed.
"Put your whole heart into it," David said, "just like you did with your dad."
Obviously, this is not Times Square, nor is the previous frame. The building that houses the loft sits in the largely Hassidic neighborhood of Williamsburg. During my previous walks through the neighborhood, I had spotted some beautiful potential pictures of people, including some wonderful images of parents with children. At home, I would have just shot, before the moment was lost.
Not knowing Hassidic sensibilities, I had stopped each time to ask if they would wind and each time they had smiled politely, thanked me, and said, "no." David then told me that in principle they had no qualms about being photographed, but they had sometimes been ridiculed in the past and so were hesitant, but nothing bad would come of it if I saw a picture and just shot it.
As I walked toward the subway station to do what would be my second Times Square shoot of the day and my final of the workshop, I contemplated this dilemma.
I needed something in my personal record to say that I had been in a workshop that took place in a Hassidic neighborhood. So, as I walked back to the subway, without ever breaking stride, without ever raising my camera from my waist to my eye, I applied my quick draw skills and shot these three Hassidic neighborhood scenes.
I felt a little guilty, but I had to do it - just to put something in the record. Edite Haberman was heavily engaged in the process of shooting an essay on the Hassidic that would go much deeper.
;)
At the train station, I found Zun Lee, catching some sun rays as he waited for the train. We would board together as we set out to do our final round of shooting.
Now I must take a break for several hours to complete some other tasks, but when I get back, I will take you out onto Times Square as I make my last-gasp effort to pull myself off of Humiliation Road. I will then stick with this Loft Series until it is done - no more breaks to update the near-present.
I hope you will stick with me.
I had almost forgot to mention - as you can see, my camera had come back from whatever moisture problem had beset it - not totally. Everynow and then, a frame or two would still go bad. Mostly, it was working okay.
Reader Comments (5)
Great photo of Zun Lee.
I was born in NY, but my grandparents and aunts/uncles neighborhood has totally changed since my childhood of the 50s. I was born in the Boro Park area of Brooklyn which now has a huge Hasidic population.
Factoid: Most of the approximately 165,000 Hasidim in the New York City area live in three neighborhoods in Brooklyn: Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Boro Park.
I think you may have taken the photos in Williamsburg. If so, this Wikipedia entry gives a nice summary of the area. At the bottom of the entry is a list of well-known folks who were raised in Williamsburg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg,_Brooklyn#Hasidic_Jews_in_Williamsburg
Borough Park is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel. At the bottom of the entry is a list of well-known folks who were raised in Borough Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_Park,_Brooklyn
I LOVE your new blog!
(Don't worry about the spelling of Hassidic - Wikipedia used one "s". Heck, I grew up by starting the word with a "Ch"...it's all good! Boro Park has 2 different spellings, too. I grew up w/ Boro Park, oh,well...)
You are right, Mirage. It is Williamsburg and I have went back and corrected that omission.
I'm glad wikipedia is back online so that you can share the information.
i think you managed to get some great pictures for shooting from the hip. i love seeing picture of people in their every day live. I don't see the diversity of people and cultures where i live now. Growing up in an industrial town in Germany we had a lot of Turkish immigrants , but unfortunately i also remember the bigotry. I never been to NY , but it seems like such a melting pot and a fascinating place to visit, friends of mine who have been to NY loved it. Maybe someday :)
... some terrific images of the Hasidim community surrounding the Loft. That whole neighborhood is such an interesting corner of Brooklyn, and you can see it is going through a great deal of transition. Would love to go back and explore those streets again one day.
That portrait of me is kind of jarring - firstly, because I don't remember you even taking it. And secondly, because by that time (I believe it was Thursday afternoon?), I was emotionally, mentally, and physically spent - the peaceful expression belies my state of exhaustion. Those rays did feel good, and I also enjoyed our joint ride back into the city - another profound bonding experience.
I would like to explore that neighborhood, too. It was Wednesday afternoon. When we stopped in the coffee shop, I could tell you were a bit down, but I guess even more than I thought. Of course, I was pretty down, too!