Williamsburg, Brooklyn is home to tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews. I live about a 10-minute walk south of south Williamsburg where the Hasidic community is located (and thankfully far from the part of Williamsburg where the hipsters are concentrated). I accidentally stumbled upon this neighborhood when taking a walk from my place up to the Williamsburg Bridge to go to Manhattan. The Williamsburg Bridge connects the lower east side to Brooklyn, and Williamsburg's Hasidic community originated from people migrating out of the lower east side prior to WWII.
I had my Gakkenflex with me when I first walked through the neighborhood, and I liked what I shot. It's a strange thing being non-Hasidic walking through the neighborhood with no other non-Hasidic person in sight because, despite being an outsider I encountered no signs of suspicion or hostility. In fact, it is if I were invisible. Rather a great thing for a photographer.
I enjoy walking through the neighborhood because it's like stepping into the past. From the clothes people wear to the storefronts to the kids playing on the sidewalk (rather than holed up inside playing video games), it's a throwback to a New York that I got to know and became enamored of through old black and white photographs from the 30, 40s, and 50s.
I hope it's okay that I post a link to my website to view the photos. I do this because it helps give the experience I'm trying to give, one of peering through a portal into the past.
http://hookstrapped.viewbook.com/album/williamsburg#1
