Awakenings

The sight of rusty, miniature kids’ rides on Brooklyn streets triggered nostalgic memories of weekend outings with my grandfather. The tiny carousels, remnants of childhood on busy city streets, were the inspiration for my photography project.

Overwhelmed by a city that offers limitless possibilities to photographers, I decided to retrace the familiar routes of my neighborhood bearing the theme of childhood in mind. I set out early on Sunday morning to take advantage of the clear skies and sunshine, since I would have more difficulty wielding the technological features of my camera.

I roamed the sidewalks of Sheepshead Bay and Gravesneck shooting photos of yellow bug automobiles, flags, balloons, birds and anything that I connected to childhood by free association. I had no intention of using these photographers but rather get acquainted with my camera.

Immediately, I became aware of the glances and whispers of pedestrians, the few individuals that were walking their dog or running early errands at 10:00 am. Passersby after passerby smiled but I was certain they were thinking, ‘what is that girl doing?’ By noon, a man parking his car actually asked me if I planned to photograph everything in sight. Strangely embarrassed, I explained rather apologetically that I was working on a class project.

However, by 3pm I had dissolved behind the camera’s lens. Pedestrians would look through me, but I no longer felt their stares. I had grown distant from the street life and floated above the afternoon commotion, a silent and independent observer. In this optimum state I was most observant and sensitive to the theme I intended to capture.

The most satisfying photographs were the spontaneous shots of people, the successful captures of disgruntled looks, curious smirks and furrowed eyebrows that lasted only a few seconds. I was amused by my own transformation as I shamelessly pursued a couple and their child, happily shooting away at any kid within my camera’s radius.

I became intrigued by the patterns that emerged in my photographs. As I photographed parents with school-aged children, mothers with toddlers in strollers and fathers with babies seated in knapsacks, I was amazed that all the children had noticed my presence, starring directly into the camera. Not one adult looked into the camera’s lens. Perhaps, adults do not have the luxury to let their minds roam free, burdened by daily to-do lists and endless responsibilities.

My project would not have been complete without documenting the childhood icons that invited the theme itself. I scouted out four child rides: a yellow donkey, a turquoise horse, a white pony and some type of duck. From the bottom up, drastically close and from behind, I tried to capture these rides as children saw them, from their strollers or seated behind the riding bars.

Final photographs of bird clusters, store window toys and vending machines completed my collage of childhood images. In sorting over 400 photographs, I was struck by the resemblance, pattern and unity of the seemingly disparate images. The capstone of my photography project was a sequence of photographs that told a narrative, a meditative and nostalgic stroll through Brooklyn streets, encountering children and relics of childhood in unexpected places at unexpected angles.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 11:33 pm and is filed under