Rockaway's Archive #3

October 18, 2012. I miss 115th street. I miss Ma and I miss Billy. I miss being around people who make me smile and who I make smile. I even miss the stench of cat urine mixed with layers of cigarette smoke coating the walls and fabric in her room in the boarding house. It's time to wrap this project up and I'm still holding on. I haven't been out there in months and I didn't make it out there for the summer. My therapist told me that I had to put this on the top of my priority list. She even told me that she would give me $300. to help pay for a designer to make my book dummy. I wasn't even talking about the Rockaway's when she offered. She has stood by my side every inch of the way... through the deaths of both my parents, through the bleak emptiness of my own personal incarceration to the highs and the sound of my laughter weaving in and out of the last ten years of this roller coaster ride of mine. If you can't laugh at the completely absurd and the unfairness of life than you might miss out on a lot of laughing.

I turned the corner and I saw the super of the SRO on the ladder. I asked him if I could take a photograph of him.

"The Super", Rockaways, NYC. 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

I was hanging out at Lulu's boarding house. We were hanging outside on the stairs. I got into a conversation with her husband and a local. Lulu went her house and when she came out, she was carrying a platter covered in very young puppies. I believe they were only one week old. I asked her if I could take a portrait of her with the plate of puppies.

"LuLu and the Puppies on a Platter", Rockaways, NYC. 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

Rockaway's Archives #2

"Pastor Gary's Daughter", Rockaways, NY, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

"Kelly, Pastor Gary's Daughter", Rockaways, NY, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

Rockaway's Archives #1

From the archives. I don't believe I have shown these. A day hanging out in the Rockaways in 2011.

"Maria. I'm Not That Simple", Rockaways, NYC, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

"Billy and Maria", Rockaways, NYC, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

"Hanging out on Steps #1", Rockaways, NYC, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

"Hanging out on Steps #2", Rockaways, NYC, 2011. ©Juliana Beasley

More from the Archives...

More shots from my series of portraits I took last during during a bike trip in Quebec.

"Anonymous Boy in Street", Quebec, Canada, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

 

"Anonymous Cashier in Grocery Store", Quebec, Canada, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

From the Archives...

Last year I traveled up to Quebec to go on a week long bike trip. It seems like it is has become impossible to take vacations anymore without bringing my camera and finding a project around every corner I turn. So, here is one shot, I discovered in my external hard drive named Franz. I can't remember this boy's name. He was standing out front in his driveway with two of his friends. The hood of his car was open and they were working away at fixing the engine.

"Anonymous Ado in Front of House", Quebec, Canada. Summer 2011. Juliana Beasley.

 I have others of him that I might post later.

Finally The Rockaways....

This weekend, I hope both Saturday and Sunday, I will trek out to the Rockaways to catch up with old friends and I hope new friends, as I troll the streets with my Rollei wrapped around my neck. This is the first time I am going out to the Rockaways this entire summer and honestly, I really missed the people and the place.

There is nothing like the Rockaways. And I believe there are many out there who would agree. One thing I can say for sure. I have been taking the long subway trip out there for 10 years counting this year and now this summer and things are changing. Change comes slowly to the Rockaways and this is perhaps one of the most charming part of the peninsula.

The once forgotten neighborhood (no, I do not speak of all of the peninsula, only certain pockets) beacon to many of the disregarded is now on the map and highlighted in trendy on-line and printed journals. Yes, hipsters have discovered and flocked to the hidden city beach paradise over the last couple of years. But you can't take the real salt of the Rockaways or at least the neighborhoods where I have been photographing. Over the last decade so many of my subjects have died. I used to get off the train and many familiar faces would great me as I exited the MTA on 116th Street. I miss those kind greetings. So, much can change in 10 years.

These are a couple of simple shots I took outside of a new pub that I frequent. 

"Outside of RBI #1", Rockaways, NY, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

 

Add captio"Outside of RBI #2", Rockaways, NY, 2011. Juliana Beasley.n

"Outside of RBI #3", Rockaways, NY, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

"Outside of RBI #4", Rockaways, NY, 2011. Juliana Beasley.

Hard as Nails. Paper Thin.

"Self-Portrait in Bed #1", Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley

"I am Paper Thin #1", Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley.