“Drenched,” by Deana Rae and “A Brooklyn Sunset,” by Vitaliy Piltser:

“Fishing at Sunset, Red Hook,” by Barry Yanowitz:

“Coney Island at Dusk,” by Bill McLain:

“Dead End Silhouette,” by Joel Zimmer:

Share

Near the end of the tour, we encountered an artist working on the beautiful murals which decorate the Coney Island USA building. She was decked out in an old paint-splattered Mermaid Parade t-shirt and dock shoes, busy putting the finishing touches on a vignette on the east side of the building. I learned that this was none other than Prof. Marie Roberts, the Coney Island artist in residence who has been largely responsible for last 10+ years of iconic Coney Island imagery.

Of course, I asked her for a portrait. She graciously obliged and smiled.

Born and raised in Coney Island, Marie’s family has had strong ties to the community for several generations and her art reflects this deep bond with the landscape. She says that her “father’s family was involved in Coney Island at the turn of the 20th century; my grandfather was acting battalion chief of the Coney Island District until his death in 1924. My Uncles Harry and Guy were at Dreamland the night of the fire. I have an uncle buried in the Gravesend Cemetery. My father claimed he never got out of the 6th grade because he was too busy watching the horses cross the finish line at the Gravesend track. My Uncle Lester was the talker for the Dreamland Circus Sideshow in the 1920’s.”

I also hear she has loads of legendary stories about growing up in a sideshow family, many of which surface as inspiration in her beautiful sideshow banner work. Be sure to check it out on the web here or in person at Surf Avenue and 12th Street!

Share

Grace Court Alley is one of these such streets, nestled into a cozy nook off Hicks Street. Forgotten NY reports that this tiny street, along with neighboring Hunts Lane, was once “home to the stables of Remsen and Joralemon Streets, which parallel it to the north and south.”

Predictably, the former stables are now home to ultra-lux residences, but many of the original details remain – both inside and out. In fact, if you’d like a peek at the inside of one such drool-worthy home, check out this recent listing on Brownstoner. Swoon.

But me? I’ll make do until I win the lottery and take my camera out for a leisurely stroll…

Share

The outcome? Brooklyn’s own Baked NYC won in a “seriously close call,” after beating out more than 47 bakeries and 60 flavor combinations!

To the uninitiated, Baked NYC seems like a hole-in-the-wall bakery (in a former storefront church!) on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. Its humble, cozy space isn’t large, but it’s all about the bold flavors. Serious Eats had this to say about the winning ‘cakes:

But Baked stood out among all the contenders for their consistently moist cake, good cake-to-frosting ratio, and interesting flavors that highlighted the title ingredient. The lemon drop cupcake was one of the overall favorites of the tasting, with bright flavors that reminded us of summer citrus and not jarred lemon curd. The vanilla cupcake was a big pick for best of its category; it “tasted like vanilla,” rather than just a neutral flavor, and had a light, fluffy texture. Though its somewhat inconvenient location in Red Hook, Brooklyn, makes these cupcakes tough to reach for some, the tasty treats at the end of your long trek will be well worth the effort. I promise.

To help celebrate this sweet victory (and sample some of their non-cupcake delicacies), I took visiting friends to Red Hook this weekend for a divine breakfast of sticky buns and lattes. Not only were they impressed, but fell in love with the space as I have in the past. Check out a few shots of the bakery below, or pick up their beautiful cookbook to try one of their recipes at home!

Hmmm… maybe we need to visit some of the other bakeries on the list, too… you know, for research purposes.

Share

Wait until the sun is starting to set, about 7:30pm these long days of late July. Start your walk in DUMBO (or at the High Street A/C or Clark Street 2/3) and head west through Cadman Plaza Park and west on Cranberry Street to the Columbia Heights waterfront. Admire the mansions. Bask in the golden light of sunset. Sit down on a bench along the Promenade and enjoy the view.

I have got to do this more often.

P.S. If you want to know more about the street’s history, check out the Brooklyn Eagle archives here.

Share

And if you’re in the ‘hood, definitely go check out some more of Joel’s photos at Almondine, the French bakery in DUMBO, where they’ll be on exhibition for the rest of the summer!

Share

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:

Share

Check out the story of their Brooklyn roots below, via this unabridged company history:

"Cyrus, Frank, and Charles Jones founded what was to become Grand Union in 1872. They called the business the Jones Brothers Tea Co., starting with one store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the shelves were stocked with coffee, tea, spices, baking powder, and flavoring extracts. The brothers expanded the business steadily, branching out with new stores in eastern Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. By the time it built its headquarters and warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, the company was known as the Grand Union Tea Co.

In 1912 Grand Union was a 200-outlet chain store with operations across the country. In addition to its business establishments, the company supported a small army of 5,000 door-to-door salesmen and delivered goods in horse-drawn wagons. The brothers incorporated the Jones Brothers Tea Co. in 1916.

…

[Grand Union] helped evolve the supermarket concept by demanding that the spacious supermarkets be designed carefully so as not to overwhelm customers used to smaller shops. Shield suggested breaking down the open spaces by building more walls and dispersing special product displays throughout the aisles. By the mid-1950s, Grand Union operated about half the number of stores it did in the 1930s, but the stores turned out nearly seven times the volume of sales. By then the company had outgrown its Brooklyn headquarters. It opened a new facility in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, in a red brick tower that was later to become a community landmark."

Share

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!

——————————————————————————–
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.

Share

Ed recently gave us the heads up and graciously offered to share his photos and some thoughts. Read about the event below, or head on over to his blog for more!

Ed writes:

This was not a reactionary protest against BP or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Hands Across the Sand was conceived before that and the first protest was held across Florida on February 13th, 2010. The protest was a simple one. At noon, the gathered people on over 700 beaches in the USA, over 900 total around the world, formed a single line facing the sea and joined hands for 15 minutes.

To me it was the simple act of the joining of hands between all sorts of people, nevermind their age, race, ethnicity, that was the most powerful and symbolic. Is a line of people in the sand going to actually do anything about this? Arguably not. Many don’t have the time or money to go down to Florida and help with the clean-up, and there are agencies much better at doing so even as it proves difficult. However, those who gathered still want their feelings to be known. The fact that this was a huge event across the country, and even world, shows that people really care about this. The coming together of people saying to industry and government that now is the time to take action, please take notice!

My own feeling though is something like helplessness. The Deepwater Horizon incident is just one example of some of the profligate practices and malpractices pursued by companies in the rush for the money as they compete for our dwindling resources. I don’t know what the solution is, this kind of engineering and science is not my field, but in the case of the Florida Gulf there needs to be one, and quick. A hugely pressing issue though is that we really need to accelerate our investigations into better, safer, and less destructive methods for a lot of our industries, not just oil. I am sure there is opportunity for entrepreneurship out there if people look past what we already know!

Share