The success of FTLOB can be directly attributed to the hard work, passion and enthusiasm of FTLOB founder Jill Harrison. Jill has been the driving force behind FTLOB and has taken it from a domain name with an empty page to a community that many photographers consider their home base. Through her passion for photography and the love of Brooklyn, Jill has created something special that provides a unique perspective of the borough to its residents and those who (rightfully) wished they were. Posting often, Jill always inspires us with her photographical documentation of the people and places of her surroundings. Across digital and film, 35mm and medium format, she always is able to capture the unique character around her with a keen photographic eye.

Today we have a very special post, because it is Jill’s birthday. We wanted to take a moment to recognize all the hard work she has done. We wanted to thank her for pulling us all together, for organizing us, inspiring us, and showing us how a group of busy, hardworking and competitive photographers can come together for the greater good of the community at large. Thank you Jill for all you’ve done for the site, the borough, and how you’ve inspired the photographers around you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And now a look at some of our favorite recent Jill Harrison photos:

Barry kindly shared his thoughts in this guest blog below, and make sure to check out his growing catalog of self-processed shots for more!

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Ever since I’ve become interested in photography I’ve used a digital camera. Recently though, I’ve been inspired by many of my Flickr contacts who’ve been doing amazing work with film. My interest wasn’t to replace digital, but to spark my creativity with a different way of doing things. So about a month ago I got my father’s old Canon AE-1 and shot my first roll of film in… I can’t remember how long. But I didn’t want to just shoot film, I wanted to control the process from end-to-end and that would mean doing my own developing. Was that even possible without a dark room or investing in lots of expensive equipment?

As it turns out, you can develop right in your kitchen sink. For the Love of Brooklyn recently featured an excellent tutorial by Claire Voelkel. That’s where I started.

I have to admit that at first, the process seemed overwhelming. Chemicals have to be mixed at the right temperatures, film needs to be loaded onto reels inside of a changing bag by feel only, and all of the developing steps need to be applied in the correct order for the right amount of time. So before developing my first roll, I bought a cheap roll of film to practice on. I loaded it on to the reels that came with my developing tank, first outside the changing bag so I could see what I was doing, then inside until I was comfortable doing it blind. I also did a test run of the developing steps with water instead of chemicals to make sure I had all the timings down. By the time I developed my film there were no surprises left and it went smoothly.

For me, the most amazing moment came once I finished developing. I finally got to unspool the reel and see the negatives. It actually works! So far I’ve developed four rolls of film and if you’re on the fence about trying it for yourself, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s extremely satisfying.

I immediately reached out to find out what he thinks is so special about this pier where locals go to fish for striped bass, bluefish, and fluke. Triebensee replied:

I’m drawn to the Steeplechase Pier because it’s an ideal place to observe the great diversity of modern New Yorkers both interact and respectfully avoid each other while performing ancient rituals. The fishermen and women there kibbitz when appropriate, yet allow each other enough space to focus on the task at hand and contemplate. All ages, ethnicities, languages and lifestyles are represented.

Truly this diversity is evident in the photoset below, which he has graciously allowed me to share. Please be sure to click through each photo to see the textures in detail, and if you’d like to photograph the Pier for yourself, come join us this weekend for our Coney Island meet-up!

These images feature the gorgeous work she’s doing with her new Rolleicord III, a medium-format twin lens camera from the 1950′s.

Enjoy! (Who wants a puff of cotton candy?!)

After hitting up the Brooklyn Flea this weekend with a friend, we headed back through Fort Greene to eat brunch at the Habana Outpost on Fulton. Problem was it wasn’t quite open yet. So to kill a bit of time, we headed across the street to the lovely independent Greenlight Bookstore. It’s not often that I get a chance to leisurely browse my way through a good bookstore, and my credit cards usually thank me for that. However, this weekend I stumbled on this adorable postcard by Grégoire Ganter.

Ganter, as it seems from this interview, is a MBA-turned-pro-photographer who works out of his home in Tribeca and a DUMBO-based studio. His collections (Lea’s Alphabets, Cityscapes) are interesting mosaics of NYC and beyond. Of course, I couldn’t help but pick up a copy of his ode to Brooklyn. It makes me smile.

Check out Ganter’s official website here and prepare to be inspired!

For the Love of Brooklyn: How did you first get into photography and what is it about the art that drives you?

Ray Ciborowski: When I was a little boy, I had one of those long thin cameras with the film cartridge that’s rolled at both ends. I used to take it on school trips to the museum or the zoo so I could show my mom where I went. I loved the sound it made after you took a picture and you had to wind the film for the next shot. I remember I was always playing with little gadgets that made some sort of sound. When I was maybe 17, my grandmother gave me her old Olympus and I started shooting random things, trying different films. I had no idea what I was doing. Then, in my early 20′s, I bought my first Minolta a few weeks before my very first trip abroad. I basically learned as I went.

Photography can be so different based on the person behind the lens. For me it’s always been about documenting and reinterpreting what already exists. I don’t create much in my photographs. I prefer not to stage anything, but instead, I simply wish to preserve my scenes in silent moments, hopefully with a somewhat original perspective. Be it the elaborate or the most mundane of subjects, I try to give the subject the attention I feel it deserves, just as a portrait photographer might give to another person.

I love looking at other people’s pictures too. I find so much inspiration that way to continue shooting, realizing that there’s always more out there to see and capture.

LoB: You’ve traveled all over the world and captured a variety of places in such interesting ways; as a native Brooklynite, how has growing up in Brooklyn shaped the way you look at the world?

RC: Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70′s & 80′s, I, like most people, thought I was in the best place in the world. Of course, the fact that I was right! Brooklyn was, and is magnificent. It has always been exciting to me. My early version, filled with playing in open hydrants, stickball, and carrying excessively large radios down the street, is perhaps a bit different from the more recent developments in Williamsburg or Greenpoint.

The diversity here certainly added to a sense of wonderment about foreign peoples and places when I was young. I grew up in a large apartment complex and played with lots of kids from the building. Everyone had really different backgrounds that seemed to disappear while we played. Even more than that however, it was my grandmother’s World Book encyclopedias that piqued my interest the most. I used to visit her house frequently and I always found myself sitting on her porch with one of those books in my hand. I enjoyed reading about countries the most, and I remember particularly liking all of the different flags.

When I was in my very early 20’s, I began studying art history and going to lots of museums including the Brooklyn Museum. It all somehow fit together. I would start traveling to look at art, learn new places and meet new people. All with camera in hand.

LoB: You’ve mentioned that you tend to take photos everywhere but Brooklyn, and that when you do shoot in Brooklyn it’s a bit of a different experience. Can you elaborate on that?

RC: Well I love Brooklyn to the core. My whole life has been spent here. When I first got into photography I used to only shoot when I went somewhere. It was about documenting an unfamiliar place and bringing visual memories back. Nothing unique with that philosophy. When I started traveling frequently, I’d always look forward to the pictures I’d get and I’d dread the ones I’d miss. I just began associating photography with being somewhere else as opposed to being at home. To this day, I’ve stuck to that general premise with most of my stuff.

I know Brooklyn well. It is inherently part of who I am and for better or worse, my desire to photograph it has been strangely absent. The streets, the people, that intangible vibe that all NY natives have about this great borough and city…I think my emotional involvement with Brooklyn may not translate as well behind my lens. I guess I’d just rather FEEL it than shoot it. I hope that makes some semblance of sense. Maybe I’m thinking too much about the process. Maybe it’s just that I’m too busy exploring other places. Perhaps I’m not confident enough to capture it with the love it deserves. Realistically, there’s truth in all of those statements. Everyone has their quirks. This is just one of mine I guess.

I do have work from Brooklyn though. Some beach fragments from Coney Island, a graffiti segment from Red Hook, and of course some of Brooklyn’s abandoned places.

LoB: One of the major themes in your photography is the documentation of abandoned locations. What first drew you to that form of exploration and photography, and what guides your research when you look for these types of places?

RC: It came upon me all of a sudden, when I was certainly not looking for it. I was researching an overseas trip when I stumbled upon a picture from the old abandoned Airport in Flushing Queens. It was a magnificent shot… a bright red, graffiti-covered fuel truck half-submerged in water. It was captivating, but I thought, there’s no airport in Flushing. After doing some searching on the internet, I come to find that there was an airport there that now sits abandoned, fenced off where no one would ever know. I went exploring there the very next day. I felt like I had found something no one else knew about. Old hangers, a flooded runway, and the red fuel truck peering her headlights out above the water. (This location has since been razed). I was hooked.

There are so many types of abandonment out there, especially here in the Northeast. All easy striking distance from a Brooklyn base. Industrial, institutional and educational sites are the most common. Here in Brooklyn, the Grain Elevator down in Red Hook resonates pretty strongly with me. My dad & I used to drive past it when I was a little kid, and I always wondered what was inside. Coincidentally, it was abandoned just about the same time I was born. It’s been a few years now since I’ve shot the building from the inside. It was certainly worth the wait.

As far as research goes, there are dozens of ways to start finding places that have been abandoned, but for the most part, let’s just say you have to love looking at maps. Aerial view, bird’s eye, street view, all on Google maps, must become your best friends.

LoB: With your Urban Exploration photos, you manage to capture the beauty of decay within the spaces you visit. The viewer can see a strong consistency in the way you take these photos and they always show a great respect for the place and bring out their hidden greatness. What goes through your head as you take these photos and what kind of connection do you feel to the locations?

RC: I’ve always loved the solitary, places where I can hear the silence. I enjoy looking at things optimistically, seeing the possibilities in the empty rather than in the full. This ties into urban exploration quite nicely. Most people view decay as some form of death. I see it as rebirth. An organic transformation back to the beginning, before man was involved.

Being on site can be surreal, when you turn a corner and you’re blown away by a striking scene. You start to envision the time when people used to work and live in these spaces. You imagine their lives and what these places must’ve meant to them. History is a huge piece of the puzzle. It’s a respectful time, but in the end, you’re there to shoot photos so you must absorb it all and then get to work, never forgetting the explorer’s motto… Take only photographs, leave only footprints.

The changing textures, rusting steel, and peeling paint make these places interesting. Discovering a piece of history, frozen in time for years, even decades, makes them emotional, but it is the loneliness, the sadness, and quiet desolation that make them beautiful. In this stillness, the poetry of steel & concrete is written.

LoB: You recently took and incredible six month trip around the world where you visited 10 countries and 80 cities. What was that experience like, and what is the craziest story from the trip?

RC: We spent some time in Myanmar, and decided to trek around the northwestern section closest to Bangladesh. Myanmar currently gets less than 3,000 American visitors the entire year, and even less in that particular province. We were drawn by the lure of an ancient city of over 80 ruined temples hidden amongst rivers and islands. The city known as Mrauk-U. There is no airport there so we flew as close as we could, then needed to take a 7 hour ferry ride to get to our destination. Most tourists rent a private boat to get there. That’s a bit too easy for me. I’m interested in a more organic experience, so we took the local ferry with the local people. It was an unforgettable experience, chickens, cows, and goats all making the trip with us. The locals were packed in like sardines and seating was wherever you could find a spot on the floorboards. A medicine man was selling concoctions of local herbs on a megaphone, and food vendors at each stop bring on board fried fish, coconut patties and crickets on a stick. My girlfriend starts knitting and the local women gather round her like bees and honey, one elderly woman resting her arms right across my girlfriend’s lap. She knit little bracelets for many of the babies on board and the moms all smiled from ear to ear. They accepted us like family and told us stories in a language we couldn’t possibly understand. They literally talked to us for 7 hours, gave us food, and they loved to come over and touch us. Our white American faces so strange and unknown to them. They were such lovely people. There’s such a heated debate as to whether visitors should go to Myanmar in the sense that your monies may indirectly fuel a corrupt government to further oppress their people. But seeing how much it meant to them to interact with us gave us our answer and justified our visit. It was in such a remote area. It truly was the furthest I’d ever been from home. Perhaps not the ‘craziest’ story, but one I am particularly fond of.

The whole experience was liberating! Buying a one-way ticket. Quitting my job, one that I loved. Life is so different once you realize personal time is more valuable than any money you could ever earn. It’s the only thing that matters.

This past week, I found out that Barry was contacted late last year by National Geographic editors searching for photos to use for their April water issue. His gallery of photos featuring the Olafur Eliasson waterfalls in NYC struck a chord with the publication giant, and they have featured his work in the current issue! Make sure to pick up a copy (or click through the e-gallery) and congratulate Barry on the wonderful accomplishment!

Click here to check out the full set of waterfall photos!

I encourage you to check out her photostream and official website, and enjoy the interview below!

For the Love of Brooklyn: When I first discovered your photo stream and website, I could see NYC all over your work. On further inspection, though, I see that you’re not a native Brooklynite and you have quite an interesting story. How did you come to live in NYC and end up in Bed-Stuy?
Lyouba Assadourova: New York is my childhood dream, my love affair, my challenge – it is the kind place that makes you or breaks you. I was obsessed with the Big Apple growing up in communist Bulgaria. My room was covered with images from New York, and I even had the subway map on the wall. I tried packing my bags when I was 12, but in a communist regime it was more probable to set foot on the Moon than to go to the United States. Everybody that knew me knew that one day I would live in New York. I and two of my best friends made a pact when when we were 15 that on June 1st, 2000, no matter what happens to us, we will meet in front of the MET at 6pm. I arrived in New York on March 10th, 2000 with $30 in my pocket and I didn’t know anybody but a friend of a friend. My friends arrived few months later. Growing up we were so infatuated with the 80′s downtown scene – Keith Harring, Basquiat, Talking Heads, Paradise Garage; this was the time hip-hop was making its way to the mainstream and Madonna was a pop queen. We saw the city as a place we can lose and find ourselves, a place that you can be anything you wanna be if you just have the drive and discipline to achieve it. After I lived in Queens, Manhattan, and New Jersey I finally found Bed-Stuy. It was love at first sight! I moved there November of 2003 and most people I knew would not come visit me. For the first two years, I never saw another white person on the subway platform or the grocery store. I still get “Yo, white girl” on the street but when people want to show me love they say I’m “light skin”.

LoB: How has Brooklyn, and Bed-Stuy in particular, impacted your style and perspective on life in the States? Where are your favorite places to shoot in NYC and beyond? [ed. note: check out Lyouba's fantastic Bed-Stuy collection here!]
LA: I found a home away from home in Bed-Stuy. It is a tightly woven and diverse neighborhood where people say hello to you every day. Brooklyn gets love internationally in general. You can go anywhere in the world and shout out “Brooklyn!” and you’ll get somebody shouting back “Yeah!” Bed-Stuy has impacted tremendously my work and perspective on life. It is my muse. I try to capture the spirit of the area and its inhabitants – my neighbors, friends, or strangers – history, life and death. I feel privileged to have such an intimate view. Living in Bed-Stuy has taught me a lot about American society and the human spirit in general. I have never imagined that I can feel so connected to a place thousands of miles away from where I was born among people from a different cultural, racial, ethnic, or religious background. This shows me everyday that humans have more things in common than differences. My life in the US has been like falling down the rabbit hole for me but these days, the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, and I are best friends.

My favorite places to shoot in New York are often off the beaten path or the map. Have you heard of English Kills? Most people have not. It is a 3.5 mile estuary that forms part of the border between Brooklyn and Queens. It is one of the most polluted industrial sites in America, containing years of discarded toxins, an estimated 30 million gallons of spilled oil, and raw sewage from New York City’s sewer system. My friend Common Folk, a graffiti artist, took me there. I love abandoned buildings and industrial sites, anything you can’t find in a tourist guide. It amazes me that in one of the most populous areas in the world, New York City, there are areas with zero per capita square mile. I’m fascinated with the workings of the metropolis and the after-effects of human interaction with the man- made or natural environment, and what it takes to effectively design a city. I’m interested in improving quality of life for urban dwellers through design and re-purposing.

I would love to shoot any place on Earth and beyond – from the Sahara desert to the crowded streets of Tokyo, or even underwater. There’s nothing that I love more then to explore life through my lens.

LoB: Much of your work evokes a strong vintage / retro sensibility mixed with gritty street realism. How does this unique style reflect upon you as a person? What influences do you consider most important in your life and in your work?
LA: I’m an analog girl in a digital world, like Erykah Badu sings. I love old pictures, from daguerreotype to polaroids; they are so temperamental and retrospective. I love the warmth of the analog process and techniques and I always try to bring these qualities to my work. I am a big comic and graphic novel fan so I explore magical realism in photography. I love cinematic and moody lighting. I enjoy distorting “reality” to a subjective surreal world, often referencing movies, comic strips, music. I like nothing more then putting my headphones on and getting lost in the city with my camera.

My parents were instrumental in my artistic aspirations. Jazz poured from the speakers and a typewriter echoed through the walls in the apartment I grew up in. Books and artwork cover the walls top to bottom. I first saw New York through the eyes of Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Woody Allen. Emir Kusturica, Pedro Almodovar, Igmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni , and Kim Ki-duk are just few of the people whose brilliant mind inspires me.

LoB: Some of your most recent work has been medium format. Is this your first time experimenting with 120? How does the larger format change the way you approach scenes, if at all? What advice would you give those looking to branch out larger format photography?
LA: Yes, I recently started experimenting with 120 film and that opened a whole new world in front of me. My father sent me an old Lubitel 166 Universal and the rest is history. Now I walk around with two cameras, like one was not heavy enough. I love composing and thinking in 6X6. I love vinyl so I feel like I’m making a record cover every time. Looking at the world from the top is a great feeling as well! Not to mention all the fun I have choosing film and the mistakes that come with full manual operation makes the photos so much more special. I kept over-rolling the film and that would split my frame in two. I enjoy playing with double exposure and I’m looking to try some cross processing. My advice to any photographer is push your limits, try new things, new approaches, new techniques. Expand your vision and skillset daily, and work in any genre you can.

LoB: And this one’s obligatory — What’s the craziest photo story you have while shooting in NYC?
LA: Man, I’ve seen it all in this city, but I guess the craziest moments, and there are more then one, involve NYPD because they always want to know what am I doing here and what’s in my camera. This is why I have the Your Rights App on my iPhone. I’m not going to lie – being a girl with a foreign accent “working on an art project” helps soften the blow.

Thanks so much to Lyouba for the interview and inspiration. Have a fantastic weekend!

For the Love of Brooklyn: So, I understand you call Glasgow your hometown — how did you come to find yourself in Brooklyn? Where do you live? Where are your favorite places to shoot?
Aonghais MacInnes: Glasgow as my home town is more of a Flickr concoction, as is the Aonghais (pronounced Angus) moniker (actually Aonghais is the old Gaelic name for the clan MacInnes). I was born in the UK, but we came to the States when I was a kid. I grew up in a pretty nondescript suburb in Northern NJ. However, most of my relatives are still in Glasgow (at least on my father’s side), so it’s probably the closest thing to home I have (aside from Brooklyn). I’ve lived in Brooklyn on and off since the mid 1970s. Most recently, I moved back from Manhattan after a particularly nasty breakup in 2003, and have been here ever since.

I think my current obsession with photographing Brooklyn started in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, although I haven’t been there in a while. I remember Greenpoint as the aluminum siding capital of Brooklyn back in the 1970s. There was also a lot of asphalt shingles, fake stone and brickwork, and rotting wooden siding which made the place look like it was still the 1952. It really stayed this way until the end of the 1990s. In the late 1990s, the over-development of Williamsburg and Greenpoint started happening. Stark glass and metal condos were built right next to aluminum sided 3 family homes, giving the place a very surreal feeling. Then there was the advent of what my friend Miss Heather of newyorkshitty.com calls “Abjectecture.” Out of scale, ugly ornamentation, prominently featured air conditioning units are a big part of it.

Another place I love taking photographs is Brighton Beach. Brighton Beach Avenue is wonderful for street photography. The old bungalow colonies between Neptune and Oceanview Avenues are another place I love to photograph. The bungalow colonies are rapidly being razed and replaced with 8 story condos. Most of my latest photos are taken around in the area between Park Slope and Sunset Park, which is an area I love to photograph. It’s an area that always reminded me of San Francisco, with the hilly streets and views of New York Harbor. It’s also another area that is now rapidly changing. I love all of Brooklyn though, there are photographic opportunities to be found in every area of the borough, and hope to continue to be able to explore.

LoB: What brings you inspiration in Brooklyn? Any specific influences? Neighborhoods in particular?
AM: When I first moved to Brooklyn in the mid 1970s, I didn’t know anyone. I lived in Bensonhurst and would go exploring every weekend, leaving the house and just walking for hours. I explored Borough Park, Gravesend, New Utrecht, Coney Island, Midwood. I loved the diversity of architecture. I didn’t carry a camera in those days, I really wish I had. Of course the Brooklyn of 1976 is very different from the Brooklyn of 2010, in many ways. I supposed I find inspiration in the juxtaposition of the old and new. I also love finding little pockets of areas when it seems little has changed.

As far as photographic influences, I’d have to say George Tice‘s “Paterson” and Ray Mortenson’s “Meadowland” [ed. note: Read a great article about Mortenson's later Bronx-based work here in the NYT] affected me when I first got serious about photography in the mid 1980s. Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and William Klein were big influences on my street photography. And there are a ton of photographers on Flickr that I follow, just take a look at my contact list, there are some truly incredible artists there.

I also love the Flickr pool for “Mundane Suburban Neighborhood Shots With Partially Cropped Cars.”

Live music is also another area of photography that I enjoy, and to be honest is probably the area I am most proficient. I’ve always been a music lover, and attended many shows at clubs like Max’s Kansas City and CBGBs back in the 1970s. I got my first digital SLR in 2005 and found that with a fast lens and the pretty decent high ISO of my digital SLR I could shoot pretty easily in dark clubs, as opposed to my prior attempts at using 1600 film, which weren’t particularly successful.

LoB: The majority of the work you publish on your blog, Street Level, is very focused and stylized. However, the work you publish on your Flickr stream demonstrates how adept you are at loads of different genres — I’m especially fond of your street portraits, some of which I’ve featured here! How does blogging impact the development of your personal style?
AM: Thank you. When I started Street Level in September of 2007 I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, I knew I wanted to feature photos I took from the street, but I wasn’t sure whether it would be street photography or streetscapes or whatever. It took me several months to work out what I wanted to do with the blog. I’ve always had a love of architecture, so shooting urban landscapes is something I really enjoy. Once I decided on the direction I wanted to go, I kept all the other types of photography off the blog. I think the discipline of shooting a theme on an almost daily basis forces me to look at my subject differently, in order to keep things interesting.

The street portraits are almost all candid, in fact most people don’t even realize I’m taking their picture. I try to not be sneaky, but try to blend in. Street photography can be quite exciting, sometimes pushing the envelope to see how close I can get, etc. Most of my street photography tends to be in Manhattan, although Brighton Beach can be rewarding.

LoB: I also understand you published a photography book last year. Congrats! Could you tell me a little about SOFOBOMO 2009, and any lessons you learned as part of the project or tips for other photographers looking to publish their own?
AM: Thanks, but anyone with a camera and a connection to the internet can participate in SoFoBoMo. SoFoBoMo is short for Solo Photo Book Month. You make your own photo book, start to finish in 31 days. This includes coming up with the concept for the book, shooting the photos, layout, and output to PDF for uploading. It is suggested that there be at least 35 photos in the book. I usually shoot more than 35 photos in a day, but it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought! It took a concerted effort to got a book’s worth of photos in 31 days. I plan on participating again in 2010, and will probably pick a completely different theme, possibly street photography or live music. It is relatively easy to publish your own printed photo book today. Blurb, Adorama, Mpix, and a host of other services offer on demand publishing. It is something I’ve been thinking about doing. And just keep shooting, shoot what makes you happy.

LoB: What’s the craziest photo story you have while shooting in NYC?
AM: I have a lot of different stories about shooting in the city, but two stand out right now. I lived off the Bowery in the Lower East Side when I first got into photography in 1986, and was shooting near the Bowery Bank on Bowery and Grand. The Bowery was still the Bowery then, and one of the street guys grabbed me and said he wanted my camera. I managed to pull away, and found a cop a few blocks away. After I told him he looked at me and said “What the hell are you doing with a camera around here anyway” like I was the criminal! Also around this time I was shooting storefronts around Little Italy. It was before the 4th of July and there was quite a bit of traffic in illegal fireworks. I was told by three wise guy wannabees that if I took a photo of them, they’d shove the camera down my throat and pull it out my ass. Needless to say, I didn’t point the camera their way.

I was also active in the Flickr NYC Social group for a while a couple of years ago…their meet-ups are always good for new stories… they were a lot of fun.

Thanks so much to Aonghais for the wonderful interview and have a great weekend! Enjoy the snow!

Check out the interview below and more of his work on his Flickr stream!

For the Love of Brooklyn: What is the story you try to tell with your photography?
Peter Puleo: The original story I was trying to tell behind my photography began as a documentary project of my forgotten community living in the shadow of the greatest city in the world. That genre of shooting, I believe, has remained evident in my work as I always try to capture the lost moments and emotions of the city — particularly the “outer” borough communities – usually at night, and particularly in inclement weather. Another story one may pick up on is more historical as I try to blend the past into the present day through similarities in lifestyles and social habits/customs. Eventually joining the internet community, I became exposed to many new and fascinating styles and concepts of photography. It always blows my mind how many people show such original talent to what for so long was ignorantly considered the easiest of all arts. There are many amazing and talented individuals displaying their work not only on Flickr but also on so many blogs and internet forums too. It is truly a learning experience of which I have become a perpetual student.

LoB: As a native Brooklynite/New Yorker, how does your view behind the lens change as you move between boroughs?
PP: My view behind the camera lens does not change anywhere I go. As much as I love Brooklyn, if I find something, I believe worth showing to the world outside of Brooklyn, I will photograph it. I believe Brooklyn has definitely had a huge effect on my approach to photography and especially people because I try not to be judgmental of anyone I photograph and always try in some way to create a dignity in all my shots, whether it is a sad lost pride or a stoic individual. I have had conversations with virtually all the folks I have shot and for a few, I know their life stories, which I try to bring out as much as possible in only one or two shots.

LoB: If each borough of New York City was a different kind of camera format, what would Brooklyn be and why?
PP: This is a question that requires a lot of thought. Here at this time I am going to say Large Format because these cameras are still the very much used by the photo industry in the professional areas of Fashion and Landscape photography. Brooklyn as a landscape is a cornucopia of the world transplanted to a small corner of Long Island and part of the greatest city in the world. In this landscape you can see a microcosm of America and also very much in evident is the best and worst of what our society has to offer; it makes it a truly unique place. From a fashion standpoint, Brooklyn is a voyeur’s paradise and probably one of the best people-watching places in the world. Fashion cannot happen without people and if there is one thing that has always been Brooklyn’s greatest export, it has been our people. We definitely march to our own tune.

LoB: You primarily have been shooting film, but have been known to use digital on occasion.  How does your photography change when you’re using one or the other?
PP: Film was the format I was introduced to from a young age when I was given a Polaroid Spirit600 on my 5th birthday — probably my favorite camera at that young age.  By the time I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time with a Ricoh point-and-shoot and then got my first digital camera at age 19 – the Canon SD500 Elph. I spent a lot of time with that camera until I started taking film photography courses in college and started using my dad’s Minolta SRT201 and Pentax K1000 – a camera I still use quite frequently.

Using film keeps me grounded to the basic fundamentals of photography being a fine art; I find that if you do not get to see the finished product of what you are shooting immediately, it will make you more critical and picky of your art and quite possibly create a unique style of what you shoot. I find that when I shoot film, my pictures speak more on their own because I invested more passion and thought into taking that one shot, knowing there cannot always be a do-over. On a more opinionated point of view, I love the technicolor quality of many films, particularly low-speed slide film. Many of my more recent film pictures posted on Flickr were shot with 100 speed Fuji Velvia and I try to expose the differences in my photostream between that and the digital and cell phone pictures I occasionally post.

LoB: You probably know Brooklyn better than anyone in the world (at least anyone under 30).  How did you gain the knowledge and would you ever consider giving walking tours?
PP: WOW! That is quite a compliment. I would not say I know Brooklyn better than anyone, even in my mid-20s age group. There is relatively small but very dedicated group of all-ages Newyorkophiles, one might call us. Brooklyn was basically introduced to me as a very young kid by a couple of factors. First and foremost, my paternal grandmother, a Bushwick native, bestowed quite a bit of borough pride on me. Her dignity in not fleeing the neighborhood like so many of her neighbors was very admirable to me as a kid. My father came of age amidst quite a bit of different worlds in what was a very tumultuous 1960s Brooklyn and the characters who were his friends and their stories left an undeniable impact on my life.

Another major factor would be the Canarsie neighborhood in which I grew up during the 1990s and 2000s. Without a doubt, it is a sociologist’s dream – the community was an amazing mix of old bourgeois Brooklyn families, established German and Italian Americans, a large displaced Jewish community fleeing neighboring Brownsville beginning in the 60s, and rapidly growing Caribbean and Asian immigration populations beginning in the late 1980s. This environment lent the neighborhood quite an old-fashioned working class cosmopolitan flair not really found in the city in such recent history. The history behind that world started emerging with all the amazing artifacts I started finding by strolling through my own neighborhood as a young teen. And many fascinating stories from a very large number of old-timers living around me who came from all over Brooklyn, America and the World only made me hungry for information. It has become a very serious affair since then.

Many times I have mulled over the possibility of conducting walking tours here in Brooklyn and actually on occasion I have had the pleasure of assisting my friend Adam Schwartz, a very well-known and respected historian and school teacher right here in Brooklyn! His page on Flickr is http://www.flickr.com/photos/11290907@N03/

Will I conduct tours in the future is a question I honestly have not answered myself. I do not think I can go at it alone because I wouldn’t know where to begin as there is so much out there. But if anyone out there is ever interested in pursuit of this endeavor, feel free to contact me. [Ed. note: Hints might be dropping all over. Tell us here where you want the next tour and walk to happen!]

LoB: An extra one for fun: What is the best subway line, and best model train?
PP: This is a tough one for me, haha. Growing up, my father used to have off on Wednesdays and Sundays and around the age of 5-7, every Wednesday after school we would take a random trip on a different subway route here in Brooklyn (LIRR too). One of my favorite trips was taking the (D) train to Coney Island (It used to be called the Brighton local). However, being from Canarsie, the (L) would be my train. If I had to pick a subway line as the best in the whole city, then it would be between the (A) and (J). The (A) traverses the city from the top of Manhattan to the seaside peninsula – a fabulous ride indeed but it only passes through Brooklyn and underground at that. The (J) and (L), on the other hand, only make 5 stops in Manhattan and spend the bulk of their run on the old BMT lines. The (J) is all elevated in Brooklyn and is a wonderful throwback to the days of the massive elevated transit empires of the New York of yore.

The subway train models that were my favorites were recently retired last year and they were the ambitious Slant R40 and the classic R38.

Thanks so much to Peter for the fantastic interview and have a great weekend!