Both. After I quit art school, majored in composition (piano) and audio engineering. Back in the days when we recorded on tape and messed around with buchlas.
Wow! So cool! My studio mate in the Navy Yard participates in a sort of lending library for synths if you ever want to dip your toes back into it. No buchlas though!
To make matters worse (better?), several of the streets continue in the neighborhood of Howard Beach on the other side of the canal only accessible by foot which is fun for UPS trucks and emergency vehicles. A few years back the city renamed some of the streets but locals put up handmade wooden signs with the old numbers and google maps for one sticks with the old convention. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/nyregion/thecity/29stre-1.html
"One thing I’ve learned during this project, revisiting the same locations days, weeks, or even years later, is how much your experience of a place depends simply on the direction you’re walking. At the most basic level, there are four ways to navigate a street: from either side and in either direction. Even those small shifts in perspective reveal surprisingly different details. Add in time of day, season, weather, and countless other variables, and the ways in which we experience a place become nearly infinite."
Oh definitely. When I first started my Ambient Geometries project, I worked in Greenpoint and continued commuting there for several years, so the majority of my photographs of buildings came from there. And I thought it would get boring, but when you account for switching up your routes, seasonal changes, construction starting and finishing, whatever, I realized you could probably select a single block in New York to photograph your entire life.
You've hit it out the park one again Rob. Endless interest in these images, in this neighborhood.
The "Visit New York" bureau will be wondering why Times Square, Central Park and the Empire State Building are all empty, and tourists are flocking to hitherto obscure neighborhoods - until they chance upon your Substack.
Ha! I would love to see groups of selfie stick-wielding tourists wandering between the flocks of chickens and bunnies in the rutted streets of Ramblersville. Maybe I should buy an old school bus and start a renegade tour company... Thanks Irv!
Ramblersville and Hamilton Beach come to life through your writing. The quiet, almost hidden nature of these neighborhoods makes them feel like secrets tucked inside the city. Loved the way you highlighted their charm without overstating it.
I loved this one. It gives me nostalgia for a place I've never been yet feel soul-connected through your storytelling. Agree with Jenna about the audio file!
This paragraph resonated with me too - and why a photographer's eye means you can never get "bored", shapes, light, colour are never the same from one second to the next.
I accidentally wandered around there while doing door-to-door sales almost a decade ago. I didn't realize it was its own neighborhood. I think I was looking for a bathroom (should have just went to the Starbucks on Crossbay Blvd.), but I ended up crossing that footbridge closer to the bay. I couldn't believe the houses on stilts, and unpaved roads. To me, it was such a stark contrast between Hamilton Beach, Old Howard Beach (where I was supposed to be door knocking), and new Howard Beach (territory I had previously worked).
Compared to very humble houses, narrow streets where the gravel and dirt flooded onto actual paved streets of Hamilton Beach, the McMansions and "Trump 2016" flags of new Howard Beach was jarring. Not to mention when I worked new Howard Beach, it was during the winter months, so it was dark out early. People did not want to open their doors, and I was constantly being questioned about my presence there by people walking their dogs, and in cars (great sales pitch opportunity, right? Wrong.). Despite making my best effort to be conspicuous, by displaying my ID badge, wearing a reflective vest, and wearing a light around my neck, it was still an uneasy feeling. I later found out, that everyone was understandably paranoid because of the murder of the jogger, Karina Vetrano in Spring Creek Park, just a few months earlier.
I do think I ended up getting a sale though to a family by the south end of Spring Creek Park, who had just moved in while the more modest (for the neighborhood) house was still being renovated.
Great story! All of Howard Beach feels so different than other parts of the city, but Ramblersville is another world. Lots of Trump flags there too though! What were you selling?
As a former music major sound design nerd, I appreciate your field recordings.
So glad you like them, I love making them! Did you major on an instrument or in sound design?
Both. After I quit art school, majored in composition (piano) and audio engineering. Back in the days when we recorded on tape and messed around with buchlas.
Wow! So cool! My studio mate in the Navy Yard participates in a sort of lending library for synths if you ever want to dip your toes back into it. No buchlas though!
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/nyregion/synth-library-brooklyn.html the synth library program were
Oh that’s cool! Love that idea. Thanks for linking that up. Yeah, not too many buchlas to go around. We were lucky to have one at our school.
I have never been so much in love as I am now in love with the street naming strategy deployed in Hamilton Beach.
To make matters worse (better?), several of the streets continue in the neighborhood of Howard Beach on the other side of the canal only accessible by foot which is fun for UPS trucks and emergency vehicles. A few years back the city renamed some of the streets but locals put up handmade wooden signs with the old numbers and google maps for one sticks with the old convention. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/nyregion/thecity/29stre-1.html
This is wonderful.
OMG the photo of the handmade sign…
I wish I had read that article before my last visit so I could have photographed them!
"One thing I’ve learned during this project, revisiting the same locations days, weeks, or even years later, is how much your experience of a place depends simply on the direction you’re walking. At the most basic level, there are four ways to navigate a street: from either side and in either direction. Even those small shifts in perspective reveal surprisingly different details. Add in time of day, season, weather, and countless other variables, and the ways in which we experience a place become nearly infinite."
Oh definitely. When I first started my Ambient Geometries project, I worked in Greenpoint and continued commuting there for several years, so the majority of my photographs of buildings came from there. And I thought it would get boring, but when you account for switching up your routes, seasonal changes, construction starting and finishing, whatever, I realized you could probably select a single block in New York to photograph your entire life.
Just like the best camera is the one you have with you adage, the best place to photograph is right where you are alway applies. Especially in NYC!
Yes that's a great passage!
Thanks Rob! I meant to have an Art of Noticing link in there since I'm sure it's something you've written about before. Have you read Wanderlust?
Ha ha no link required! It's just really well stated. And I have yet to read Wanderlust
You've hit it out the park one again Rob. Endless interest in these images, in this neighborhood.
The "Visit New York" bureau will be wondering why Times Square, Central Park and the Empire State Building are all empty, and tourists are flocking to hitherto obscure neighborhoods - until they chance upon your Substack.
Ha! I would love to see groups of selfie stick-wielding tourists wandering between the flocks of chickens and bunnies in the rutted streets of Ramblersville. Maybe I should buy an old school bus and start a renegade tour company... Thanks Irv!
Ramblersville and Hamilton Beach come to life through your writing. The quiet, almost hidden nature of these neighborhoods makes them feel like secrets tucked inside the city. Loved the way you highlighted their charm without overstating it.
I loved this one. It gives me nostalgia for a place I've never been yet feel soul-connected through your storytelling. Agree with Jenna about the audio file!
Thanks Julia! Always happy to hear that people like the field recordings!
This paragraph resonated with me too - and why a photographer's eye means you can never get "bored", shapes, light, colour are never the same from one second to the next.
Nice time lapse animations too!
Thanks!
I accidentally wandered around there while doing door-to-door sales almost a decade ago. I didn't realize it was its own neighborhood. I think I was looking for a bathroom (should have just went to the Starbucks on Crossbay Blvd.), but I ended up crossing that footbridge closer to the bay. I couldn't believe the houses on stilts, and unpaved roads. To me, it was such a stark contrast between Hamilton Beach, Old Howard Beach (where I was supposed to be door knocking), and new Howard Beach (territory I had previously worked).
Compared to very humble houses, narrow streets where the gravel and dirt flooded onto actual paved streets of Hamilton Beach, the McMansions and "Trump 2016" flags of new Howard Beach was jarring. Not to mention when I worked new Howard Beach, it was during the winter months, so it was dark out early. People did not want to open their doors, and I was constantly being questioned about my presence there by people walking their dogs, and in cars (great sales pitch opportunity, right? Wrong.). Despite making my best effort to be conspicuous, by displaying my ID badge, wearing a reflective vest, and wearing a light around my neck, it was still an uneasy feeling. I later found out, that everyone was understandably paranoid because of the murder of the jogger, Karina Vetrano in Spring Creek Park, just a few months earlier.
I do think I ended up getting a sale though to a family by the south end of Spring Creek Park, who had just moved in while the more modest (for the neighborhood) house was still being renovated.
Great story! All of Howard Beach feels so different than other parts of the city, but Ramblersville is another world. Lots of Trump flags there too though! What were you selling?
I was wondering whether the Hamilton Beach company had any connection to Hamilton Beach, but I obviously know now.
I knew someone would ask!
I wondered the same thing. We called our neighboring dorm room in college Hamilton Beach, because they had an HB water cooler in their room.
I bet that was the cool room to hang out in!
They'd installed a temporary hardwood floor over the nasty carpet. They had a fake fireplace. It was incredible.
That is next level! Our biggest dorm room upgrade was buying a glow-in-the-dark slot car race track.