Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Adventures in Junkieland

..so one of my projects back when I was an erstwhile photo major at NYU was this series of bleak landscapes of Coney Island during the winter, when it loses whatever thin veneer of nostalgic charm it usually has and becomes overrun by junkies, passed-out teenagers huffing glue, used condoms, and homeless people freezing to death behind the washed-out signs for sideshow attractions and the ferris wheel.

Oddly enough (sarcasm), I managed make the photos look as cheery as humanly possible. Hey, I like nostalgia...and isn't there enough bleak, depressing imagery about the slow evaporation of the American Dream out there already?

Look! Pretty colors!
















I love that I keep finding more of these. Ah, youthful optimism and stubborn love of the purely decorative.

6 comments:

  1. these are great... I especially like the astroland one... love the texture overlay...groovy stuff.

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  2. Thank! Hopefully the series will turn into something--a calendar or a show or...what have you :) Its some of my only old work that I still like.

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  3. Really beautiful....Cony Islandish...
    Robin

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  4. yes indeed, Coney Islandish. I'm going back this summer to see if I can add to this collection.

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  5. these are beautiful. i'm addicted to ttv ...

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  6. i actually have a viewfinder camera now, so i don't have to fake it anymore, too!!!

    Thank you!

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