Photo Essay

Photo Essay: Unknown Brooklyn

Brooklyn is so well known, and so well traveled, that you might think it has no secrets left to be uncovered. But it has plenty; it’s just a matter of knowing where to look, or having the time for the long walk or bus ride required to get there. There’s also the fact that some of these sites are in places your unconscious self-defense mechanisms might warn you to stay away from. Some are in locations that are so inaccessible you’d never just find yourself there — they’re not on the way to anywhere most people would ever go. Some are in places that only a small, privileged group are allowed into. And, to be completely honest, some are spots that no sane person would be drawn to. But, of course, all this just makes them that much more enticing, at least to people who are intrigued by a good urban adventure. Anyone can find something breathtaking and new in the Grand Canyon, but at the edge of Canarsie? Here’s a handful of pictures that were taken at ten of these locations. … Read More

Photo Essay: Paper Tiger TV Visits the Gulf of Mexico

Adda Birnir and I went down to the Gulf on behalf of Paper Tiger Television to make a short video about how individual community members are dealing with the BP oil spill. With Katrina fresh in their minds, a lot of the locals don’t trust the government or BP to look out for their best interests and believe that it is up to them to organize and make sure that the many environmental, economic, and social consequences of the disaster are being addressed.

This past week Paper Tiger blog paid a tribute to the Deepwater Horizon Disaster by live streaming directly from the BP web site eight digital video clips of the oil leak filmed by underwater cameras. Our finished video will be posted on the blog by late next week. Check it all out PTTV’s website, and click through to view a gallery of images from our trip. … Read More

Exploring Cairo’s Coffeehouses: A Photo Essay

The streets of Cairo are mad with cabs and cars and trucks packed to the gills with livestock. They jockey for position along wide avenues, sans lanes. Old Fiats belch diesel. Pedestrians dart between vehicles. Policemen direct traffic at intersections. And a constant chorus of honking runs through it all. But directly off main thoroughfares are coffeehouses or ahwas where patrons drink Turkish coffee, play backgammon, and smoke shisha, escaping the din. Ahwas are everywhere, if sometimes hidden, an integral part of the city’s… Read More