By Katarina Hybenova
Industrial wasteland, residential streets, the people who live here, amazing street art on the walls…. There is something about Bushwick that makes a camera lens very attracted to it. As a result, many photographers have been inspired to photograph the neighborhood. Some of them are doing particularly excellent job. Here are 6 we love, in alphabetical order.
Matt Coch is a Bushwick-based photographer with a passion for Brooklyn street photography. He is the man behind an amazing photoblog, Brooklyn Theory. Some time ago we mentioned his ongoing project, Lost and Found Bushwick, where he collects found items on Bushwick streets and photographs them.
Axel Dupeux was born in Paris, but has been living in Bushwick for years. When you see him on the street hanging out with his assistant Ryan or chillin’ at Tandem, you know that he is a true Bushwickian. Axel focuses on portrait photography, and we love his series Bushwick faces that he has been working on Bushwick streets.
When you say Bogart Street, you have to say Fuchs too. Or Bushwick Champs Ellyses, what this Bushwick icon lovingly calls his home. Rafael Fuchs, originally from Tel Aviv, came to Bushwick in 2005 and never really stopped photographing or videotaping the neighborhood’s whereabouts. Currently, he is crowd-sourcing the funding of his photo-book Bushwick Forever and releasing one video at a time.
Meryl Meisler used to be a teacher of art in Bushwick in the 1980s. This photographer didn’t give up her passion even when it was highly dangerous to carry a camera on Bushwick streets. She used to carry a small point and shoot, and snap photos of the every day street life in Bushwick streets. Thanks to her endeavor, we now have an amazing collection documenting a period in the history of Bushwick when it used to be one of the most godforsaken New York neighborhoods. Meryl Meisler is also an active street photographer nowadays, as she continues her Bushwick project.
Stefano Ortega is an Italian photographer based in Bushwick. He has gained a lot of recognition for his commercial work, but also lately for his project Williamsburg. He shot a series of portraits of people in the streets of Williamsburg. Thanks to his technical perfection his subjects look like as if the time as stopped around them.
Daryl-Ann Saunders came to the attention of Bushwick when she created a series of portraits of longtime Bushwick residents to honor those that have lived in Bushwick since 1975 or earlier. The series titled Pioneers of Bushwick is on view through April 27 at Diana Jones Senior Center at 9 Noll Street.