Plane Crashed in Park Slope 50 Years Ago Today

I found these proofs of the event in a collection of old photos that were in my possession. Here is the story on what happened.

Third Street

Nevins Street Nightscape

Blue Monday

Ghostly Coney

Style in the Snow

I know we are all praying for Spring but this recently submitted photo is way too cool not to put up! I am somewhat of a car expert, but I am tired (2:25 AM!) and this is covered with snow. A Rolls Royce? Correct me please if I am wrong. Guess where this is while you are at won't you!


Photo from Brian Berger.

F.I.B is still camera-less and accepting submissions and also advice as to what camera she should buy under $200 smackeroonies. Thanks!! (if you want to donate your old digital to a good cause that would be appreciated too!!)

Beam Him Up!

Brilliant photo sent to me by Catherine Weaver. Looks like this guy is about to get abducted by the aliens.

*F.I.B is camera-less at the moment and is accepting any interesting photos that you feel are relevant to the F.I.B aesthetic...

Color Blocking on Bergen Street

A Dying Art.

Another photo from my Greenpoint/Williamsburg collection.

Click here for some more.

Mystery in my closet continues....

Park Slope Plane Crash of 1960
Last month I found a bunch of amazing old photos in my closet, amongst them was is this test strip of images of the Park Slope Plane Crash of 1960!! Yup, two planes crashed down right on 7th Avenue in Park Slope. I am still researching all these photos. This one is the only one that is post-1950 and taken by a photographer named R. Nelson, the rest are all by R. Raffius. I am still trying to decide what to do them all and haven't found much information other than that R. Raffius worked for Keystone Images a company that took photos of exotic locals all over the world. Japanese Geishas? Japanese ships? Surfers on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii! Note the absence of hotels!

Anyway this is still but a mere taste of the photos that are all so well developed and interesting, I've got hundreds of images. If anyone out there knows of any collectors of this type of thing, send them my way, summer has not been kind financially to F.I.B although everything else is aces!!!

To see more images click here!
To read about just how this all came about, click here!

My closet is looking amazing by the way, still working at it though!

What's The Hook? Go Find Out!

To follow up on my rant about that hideously colorblind article about Red Hook. I would like to inform you that what the New York Time's SHOULD of covered was the What's the Hook? photography exhibit which features photographs of people who are far more interesting. I spoke to the mastermind of this exhibit, Harriet Zucker while checking it out. The exhibit was an open call for photographs taken during the span of one week in Red Hook last summer. Harriet also gave neighborhood kids and senior citizens plastic cameras to use and I have to say some of these photos give the most intimate portraits. The exhibit is up tomorrow and next weekend only at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition at the fab Beard Street Warehouse in Red Hook and there are also some photos behind the Fairway.The warehouse which is from the civil war era and smells deliciously of old seasoned wood has amazing views by the way!

Hey LADY!!!

Read all about the "What's the Hook?" here.

Also, Harriet is going to do it again, starting tomorrow you can snap away and send her your pics for next years exhibit, look at the website for details!!

P.S.A: Anybody have any photos of Brooklyn Botanicas?

Crusader Candle Factory on Nevins Street.

I recently received a request to shout out into the blogosphere regarding photographs of Botanicas. There is a research project going on and any photos would be appreciated. Specifically, San Antonio Religious Articles which was formerly at 192 Smith St. The building got torn down (what else is new?). So if you got some to share, contact me here at lisannem (at) gmail (dot) com and I shall get you in touch with the interested party.

And since I just featured local Gowanus manufacturing business, Crusader Candle (they make the religious candles that you find in botanicas, bodegas and supermarkets) I would like to take this moment to remind you that the Gowanus Transformations exhibit is still up at the Brooklyn Historical Society and will be up until August 24th. This exhibit documents manufacturing past and present around the Gowanus Canal. It was recently written about in City Limits magazine. This exhibit is quite timely as Brooklyn is losing it's manufacturing areas rapidly due to the construction of "luxury" condos. Try and check it out!

The Brooklyn Historical Society is located at 128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights.

Found in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"Phantasmagorical" with Joseph Heidecker

My friend Joe Heidecker is in this group show opening tomorrow night at the Moeller Snow Gallery in Manhattan. That's one of Joe's images on this card. Phantasmagorical! (I think I've got a new favorite adjective!) If you can't make the opening try and check it out during regular gallery hours, should be a good one.

Mystery in My Closet.

Well one of the benefits of "clearing the clutter" of my closet has already appeared. I found a shopping bag full of old black and white photographs that a friend gave me years ago. Just WHY I have NO recollection of the images is bizarre. They are beautifully shot and well developed. The photographer must of been a war correspondent stationed in the South Pacific. There are photos of Hawaii, Japan, California, some Europe and New York City. I have over 200 of them. From what I can figure out the photographer's name is R.Raffius and was from New York. The only info I can find out thus far about him is that the The Calilfornia Museum of Photography has some of his work. I am showing you just a smattering. Also in the bag are beautiful vintage postcards from all over the world. Everything is in excellent condition. What an interesting life this guy had. If anyone out there knows anything about this photographer I would love to hear about it.OH Popeye!
Coney Island?
This looks like it is probrably Coney Island in either the late 1920's or early 1930's judging by the bathing suit styles and the straw boaters on some of the men. Would you think that anyone would go to a beach this crowded today?Is this a Volkswagon?"Don't forget your fez and keep your nose clean!"
This one was sent from Honolulu in 1934. There are a lot of photos of Hawaiian "natives" and surfers also. (And also Japanese geishas walking the streets of Tokyo!) Anyway the postcards are great, this is like a big puzzle. From what I have figured out so far, the addressee on the postcard, Edward Mels, was also a photographer as there is a smattering of his work in this bag too. He seemed to be taking photos up in Alaska.
Could this be the man, R. Raffius himself?

Mystery in My Closet

Well one of the benefits of "clearing the clutter"of my closet has already appeared. I found a shopping bag full of old black and white photographs that a friend gave me years ago. Just WHY I have NO recollection of the images is bizarre. They are beautifully shot and well developed. The photographer must of been a war correspondent stationed in the South Pacific. There are photos of Hawaii, Japan, California, some Europe and New York City. I have over 200 of them. From what I can figure out the photographer's name is R.Raffius and was from New York. The only info I can find out thus far about him is that the Berkeley Museum in California has some of his work. I am showing you just a smattering. Also in the bag are beautiful vintage postcards from all over the world. Everything is in excellent condition. What an interesting life this guy had. If anyone out there knows anything about this photographer I would love to hear about it.OH Popeye!Coney Island?This looks like it is probrably Coney Island in either the late 1920's or early 1930's judging by the bathing suit styles and the straw boaters on some of the men. Would you think that anyone would go to a beach this crowded today?Is this a Volkswagon?"Don't forget your fez and keep your nose clean!"This one was sent from Honolulu in 1934. There are a lot of photos of Hawaiian "natives" and surfers also. (And also Jappanese geishas walking the streets of Tokoyo!) Anyway the postcards are great, this is like a big puzzle. From what I have figured out so far, the addressee on the postcard, Edward Mels, was also a photographer as there is a smattering of his work in this bag too. He seemed to be taking photos up in Alaska.Could this be the man, R. Raffius himself?

Mermaid Parade 2008

This seahorse squirted water (look closely!)!

Another year and another Mermaid Parade has marched down Surf Avenue. You KNOW I went! I started out on the boardwalk, even though it was quite packed it was eerily quiet, it was like a silent parade, it was strange, I didn't like it. So with great difficulty I made back to Surf Avenue where it was more lively. I just love listening to parade M.C Chris T's running commentary. I salute you Chris on your ability to maintain entertaining witty banter for over 2 hours! Did you know that Chris was in lengendary early 80's NY hardcore punk band The Nihilistics? They had a local smash hit that all the kids were dancing to called "Kill Yourself". It was also rumoured (and it might of been true) that they all worked in a graveyard. Later Chris was in controversial lower east side "noise" band Missing Foundation. Does anybody remember those upside down cocktail glass looking graffiti that were all over town? I think all those building eventually lost their foundations and have been replace by "luxury" condos. Something that MUST NOT HAPPEN TO CONEY ISLAND AS WELL! There is a lot of rock and roll history in the mermaid parade that many may not be aware of, the early ones were MUCH LESS family oriented, there was WAY more nudity and way less children. I even saw that guy Chet who has been in the parade since the early days and who used to do performancy stuff with that other NY scum rock band Alice Donut walking down Surf Avenue in a diaper. Lookin' good Chet!

So my camera lost it's juice but I got a few shots in. Zombie Mermaid!Best seat in da house!Pirate Girl
I later chatted with this pirate girl at the new Freak Bar which is open even though it is underconstruction. It's nice and spacious, can't wait to see the finished results! I took a bunch of photos of her with my 35mm FILM camera of which I have to HAND DEVELOP the film in a DARKROOM! I HOPE TO GOD they come out! This is my way of telling you that F.I.B has started grad school. I'm gonna be an art teacher! I actually have already started teaching and I love it. So I have a feeling the blog posts will be even less frequent than they have lately, but then again, maybe not.

Check out some of these sites for excellent parade photos:
Forgotten New York
The Kingston Lounge
Brit in Brooklyn

"EMINENT DOMAIN:The American Dream on Sale" Wednesday night at N.Y.P.L.

My pal Brian Berger from over at Who Walk in Brooklyn is on a panel discussing "Eminent Domain Abuse" tomorrow night at the New York Public Library. Check out the related photography exhibit while you are there, details at the bottom.

Brian has also recently reported about that little known Brooklyn neighborhood near the Jackie Robinson Expressway called "Highland Park" over at Kevin Walsh's awesome Forgotten New York site!

Here are some details on what you can expect....

What is the American Dream? Does it mean having a “better life” by creating a home and a community, living together for generations, building and tending relationships to one another and to a place? Or do we create a "better life" by moving up, moving out, removing the old, replacing with the new?

Between 1949 and 1973 urban renewal, a program of the U.S. government, bulldozed 2,500 neighborhoods in 993 American cities and dispossessed one million people. Roots got cut, neighbors and families became separated, languages and cultures were destroyed, and social bonds were broken.

The current exhibition at The New York Public Library,Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City through August 29, features the work of five contemporary New York–based photographers—Thomas Holton, Bettina Johae, Reiner Leist, Zoe Leonard, and Ethan Levitas—whose works intersect and resonate with current concerns about the reorganization of urban space, and its public use, in New York City. Artist Glenn Ligon offers the literal narrative of his own housing in the city. In addition to proposed regulations that threaten First Amendment rights to photograph in public places thus becoming a form of privatization of public space, questions also arise with the current private/public arrangements that characterize much of modern urban development, particularly the legal power of eminent domain, or the taking of private property for public use.

Marshall Berman, Professor of Political Science, City College and the Graduate Center; Mindy Fullilove, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Public Health at Columbia University; Tom Angotti, Professor of Urban Affairs & Planning at Hunter College; and Brian Berger, photographer/blogger, will discuss the use of eminent domain and how urban renewal is changing the cityscape of New York City. Filmmaker Michael Galinsky will moderate.

The Atlantic Yards, a hotly contested developer driven project in Brooklyn, will serve as a focus through which the evening will begin. A short trailer from the film Battle of Brooklyn, directed by Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley, will portray the arguments of some of the main players in this current eminent domain debate.

After a summary of how the use of eminent domain is shaping our City, an open discussion with the audience will address what all of this means for the future of NYC.

Starts at 7pm at the main branch on 5th Avenue, Manhattan.

Clilck here for details about the talk.
Click here about the photography exhibit.

Five O'Clock Shadow on State Street

Photographers' Rights Mobilization * Sunday

Bond St & Third St.

Photography is not a crime, O.K? But you wouldn't know it as the police have been treating it as it is lately, they've stopped someone else recently photographing around the Atlantic Yards. If you want to learn more about how to handle yourself and what your rights are should you be stopped by the police, go to this gathering on Sunday afternoon at 3pm near the Atlantic Yards.

WHAT:
A "photographers' rights free expression mobilization" responding to the harassment of video artist/teacher Katherin McInnis by an MTA police officer last Sunday, February 3rd on public property within the Atlantic Yards footprint. We will discuss photographers' rights and the Atlantic Yards situation, then walk and photograph within the footprint. Depending on circumstances, we may have the opportunity to engage in a respectful information exchange with MTA police and/or
private security personnel. End point: Freddy's Bar and Backroom, 485 Dean Street, corner of Sixth Avenue.

WHERE:
Meet at the Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue, entrance on Pacific. If there's *heavy* rain or snow, we'll change the meeting place to Freddy's Bar, 485 Dean, corner of
Sixth Avenue.

WHEN: Sunday, February 10th @ 3pm

And speaking of the Atlantic Yards and how it will effect the community, check out this video filmed at Freddy's Bar and the neighborhood that surrounds it.
Freddys Bar from The Brooklyn Ink on Vimeo.