I've known this young man for a few years, and have photographed him before. When I saw him the other day with the painful-looking but beautiful bruises on his face, I ran up to my apartment to get my camera. By the time I returned he was surrounded by friends, relaxing. His friends were protective, but he said he was happy to be photographed and chose to keep smoking for the picture. I hesitated to post this, because the beat-up face and blunt in his mouth are so symbolic of many misconceptions and real concerns about young men of color in poor urban neighborhoods. But doesn't he have a hopeful and dignified glint in his eye?

For our new picture of the day, we go inside the walls of South Brooklyn Community High School. This is James Perez, who is a minor celebrity in the world of New York inline skating. He's a really good guy. I've been his advocate counselor for more than two years. He only has a few more classes to pass to graduate and he and I both know he's going to do that this year. Click here to seem him skating.

PRINT GIVEAWAY

The Prints Have Been Requested- thank you everyone.

Today I am giving away two pairs of prints of Here in Red Hook photographs. They are signed archival inkjet prints on heavyweight matte photo paper; each is approximately 8"x 8". If you'd like to own one of these pairs of prints, please send me an email with your name, mailing address, and which pair is your first choice. We'll call the top the "red pair" and the bottom the "blue pair." The first two people to email me will get the photographs. Send email to avernonjones@gmail.com.

Last night I couldn't sleep and was reading Nueva Luz photo journal. I got really into the work of photographer Jane Tam. This morning I looked at her blog and saw that she had done a print giveaway, which seemed like a nice idea. So before the week is out I'll be giving away a print of one of my photographs to a reader (viewer) of Here in Red Hook. Check back often if you'd like to be the one to get it.

When I was photographing scaffolding last week this girl walked by with her grandmother and was curious about what I was doing peering down into the ground glass of my Hasselblad viewfinder. She was happy to pose for a portrait, but her grandmother was camera shy.

This is Pat, who owns a house across the street from where I work.

One more week to go.

This is Cynthia who lives less than a block from me, but whom I met for the first time last week. I love her tattoos, her sparkling eyes, and the exquisite wrinkles of her t-shirt.

(Click the photo to see more detail.)

This is Ari with his dog Taco. Ari's headphones match Taco's leash. I met them walking by the water after school on Wednesday.

I photographed this woman in 2008, on second day that I was trying out the Hasselblad camera, which I later bought. I didn't yet have the focusing down, but I was already in love with the thing, and how the neighborhood looked through its lens. She was sitting in Coffey Park, a stone's throw from where I live, and agreed to be photographed without pausing her cell phone conversation. I love her pink sweatshirt in the late afternoon light.

(Yesterday I dropped off five rolls of film to be developed and scanned, so by tomorrow I should have some new recent pictures to show.)

Elia Kazan's 1954 film On the Waterfront was based on the world of Red Hook longshoremen. I just read that originally the film was going to be written by Arthur Miller and called The Hook, but the House Un-American Activities Commission pressured the studio to change Miller's script. Miller refused and dropped the project. With the new writer, Budd Schulberg, the title was changed.

As I get ready to move, I know the proximity the the water is one of the things I'll miss most, hence my posting another picture of fishing and the piers. In the foreground is my old friend Elijah Miller. Elijah is a songwriter who works at B61, a bar on Red Hook's northern border with Carroll Gardens. In the background, that faint point on the horizon is the Statue of Liberty.

Today I start the countdown to the end of Here in Red Hook. In exactly two weeks I will move to an apartment about a mile from where I live now, outside of the borders of the neighborhood I love. I'll still be working in Red Hook, but have decided to end this project while I'm really still Here in Red Hook. For the next 14 days I plan to post a new image at least once a day, and on October 31 I will post my last post.

It's been so rare that I've photographed any male-female pairs in Red Hook, and I think that's too bad, because couples are great. I met these two young people one afternoon when I was out shooting with the photography class that I co-teach at SBCHS. I learned their names, but didn't write them down, and have now forgotten. The white, orange and black grocery bag tells me that they'd bought their snacks at Fairway. I love that detail because I don't think I've ever seen any teenagers from the neighborhood shopping in there. (Fairway is a gourmet grocery store on the waterfront in Red Hook).

This is Jermaine. I met him about a month ago, and recently I think he's started keeping his motorcycle in the overgrown lot next to my building. In the past I've met guys who have wanted their bikes photographed but didn't want to be in the pictures themselves. But I think Jermaine knew that he was at least as good looking as his motorcycle.

This is Julio and Kerry- they're the same two boys who are filling the bucket from the fire hydrant in the last post- but this picture was actually taken first. I met them on a sweaty evening when the light in Red Hook was just glowing. They wanted me to take action shots, which (understandably) always seems to be the case with skateboarders I meet, but they settled for a portrait.

When I was out shooting a few weeks ago, these guys were playing ball- pitching from one side of Verona Street across to the other. The buildings on two sides of an industrial Brooklyn block present the perfect backstop and outfield wall (actually more like an infield wall) for a two man ball game. The ball they were playing with was a heavy rubber. Not a hardball- but I still wouldn't have wanted to pitch to this kid at close distance without wearing a glove to protect me from a line drive smacked right back at me. To be photographed these guys fell naturally into poses reminiscent of those on baseball cards or major league ballpark programs. They seem somewhere between men- with the actual swagger of a pro ball player, and boys- with innocent dreams of one day playing in the big leagues.

This is Matthew who I met this afternoon, finishing up a roll of film on my way to the lab. He said he comes to Red Hook to serve on the Youth Court but lives in Staten Island. I liked that he was wearing a red t-shirt and carrying another one, and I think he has a wonderful face. (Click on the image to see him a little closer up.)

Back in August I was watching some softball at the fields on Lorraine Street and these two boys were playing at the playground across the road. Of course the difference in size between the two of them caught my eye. It was a beautiful day, but nobody else was around in the whole section of courtyard outside these buildings. These guys were very intent on their games, but seemed happy to stop and pose for a picture.

I see this man very often, never in the same place. I've only talked to him this once, interrupting him from his cleaning because the light on him was so beautiful. He was very willing to be photographed, though skeptical. I love that he didn't completely stop wiping his windshield as he turned to me for the picture.

Yaritza was a student at the school where I work-- I was her advocate counselor until January when she passed her last NY state regents exam and graduated! I took this in front of the school during the students' lunch break one day last year. Yaritza is a small person, but there's some serious power in how she carries herself and I think some of that is communicated in this portrait. Also, I love how the white "Brooklyn" on her jacket is echoed by the white grafiti on the fence behind her. Teens from Red Hook like to wear red. It's a touchy subject to mention because the Bloods gang (whose color is red) is the prevelent gang in the neighborhood. But my impression is that it's both deeper and simpler than any gang connection. They're from Red Hook, so they like red.

Michael (another guy)

(Click on the picture above for a bigger version so you can really see this guy.) I met Michael one morning when we were both on our way to school- him to MS 378 where he's a student and me to South Brooklyn Community High School where I'm an advocate counselor. Later that week I saw him again when he came to use the gym at my school with an after-school program he attends.

The past seven portraits I've posted have been of guys. Overall I've photographed many more men than women for this project. I have a few thoughts about why. First, the neighborhood is filled with garages, workshops and factories so the economy (and sexism) bring more men into the neighborhood to work, and often to work in outdoor or open spaces. Women in our society, statistically, do more hours of work than men but in the city a lot of that work is inside childcare, and household work. So my guess is women in Red Hook are busy that way while men are outside (where I meet them) working, or relaxing and socializing. Likewise boys usually get more encouragement to play outside than girls.

Another factor is that even when I do see and take interest in a woman as the subject for a photograph, she often declines my request to be in a picture. This may be because our culture particularly targets women around physical appearance and gives constant messages about how women should and shouldn't look. Given these factors, it's not surprising that a woman might say no to a stranger asking to take her picture. And when that stranger is me, personally, I'm sure that there are ways that (as a man) I still have a lot to learn about how to approach and engage women as respectfully and skillfully as I could.

Given these obstacles, I particularly value those times when I do find a comfortable engagement with women in the neighborhood, and I value the portraits that result. I'll plan to show a woman in my next post.

Football on Richards Street

Shivering a little in the deep mid-winter, I went back into my archives from the early fall for this picture of boys who were pausing from playing football in the street. I love how differences make themselves evident in a group portrait (each subject standing in the same light in front of the same photographer but presenting themselves differently) and in this one they're pretty striking.

Reunited With Raheem

Early in this project I met two boys smoking cigars on a cold morning before school. The portrait I took of them ended up hanging in the Brooklyn Museum and was important to my decision to stick with this Red Hook work. I showed that picture in this August 19 entry. Since last winter I've keep my eyes out for those boys. It turns out my friend Brian ran into them first, but two days later I ran into one of them, Raheem. He had heard from from Brian that his picture was in the Museum and told his friend about it excitedly as I stood there with my camera. It turns out the boys were brothers, Raheem and Raequan, which they hadn't mentioned when we first met last year. Raheem and the friend he was with wanted to be in another picture, and so here they are, with cups this time, instead of cigars. I got Raheem's number and hope to get together with the brothers to give them some prints and hopefully make another portrait soon.

The Bus Stop

I've always had a fascination with skateboards, and have ridden them since I convinced my parents to get me one at K-Mart when I was about nine. I was first attracted to this young man because he was standing on a skateboard as he waited for the bus, and he seemed proud of it. We talked a little about skateboarding and I took one or two shots from further back, of him and the board, but some intuition told me to get closer for a more intimate picture. As I did, I think my proximity and close focus were a little much for him and he turned away slightly, still standing on the board. In that moment he showed some combination of bravery and vulnerability. I think it's this mix that often gives portraiture its power.