Take a look at the work of Eamonn Aiken and the following text written by the artist. What are your reactions to the work? Do you find the work interesting? Why or why not?Brooklyn Nights, Eamonn Aiken, 27 March 2008
The first night I spent in the Terminal Market Warehouse yard photographing the progress of its demolition I stood in awe of a modern ruin. The building's commanding presence, even in its crumbling form, was remarkable. Among the most recognizable and historically significant buildings in Brooklyn (Civil War ironclad USS Monitor launched from these yards), the structure was destroyed in a 10-alarm fire that called greater attention to the issue of land use in Brooklyn's continuously escalating real estate market. Though being considered for landmark status protection when it was destroyed (under suspicion of being an intentional "developer's fire"), the site was a reminder that history won't protect modern ruins the way it does ancient ones - the land is too commercially lucrative to be left to cultural importance, and it was therefore important to me to begin making as complete a record of the place as I could before it was (as it is now) completely leveled.
The first night I spent in the Terminal Market Warehouse yard photographing the progress of its demolition I stood in awe of a modern ruin. The building's commanding presence, even in its crumbling form, was remarkable. Among the most recognizable and historically significant buildings in Brooklyn (Civil War ironclad USS Monitor launched from these yards), the structure was destroyed in a 10-alarm fire that called greater attention to the issue of land use in Brooklyn's continuously escalating real estate market. Though being considered for landmark status protection when it was destroyed (under suspicion of being an intentional "developer's fire"), the site was a reminder that history won't protect modern ruins the way it does ancient ones - the land is too commercially lucrative to be left to cultural importance, and it was therefore important to me to begin making as complete a record of the place as I could before it was (as it is now) completely leveled.
This was something of a new direction in the project I'd been working on in North Brooklyn. I'd been photographing sites that appeared completely uninhabitable, and yet were immediate or almost immediate neighbors to dense residential housing. Waste transfer stations, refineries, sites of chemical contamination, an underground oil spill - all within a few blocks of my home, sometimes just down the corner. Though the burning of the complex released unknown quantities of toxins into the neighboring residential blocks and threatened more widespread severe fire damage had nearby fuel tanks lit, this was the first time the images had begun to also focus on the impact of redevelopment on historic and culturally significant locations. I began shooting the sites at night using long exposures on a large format camera as a storytelling mechanism - these were sites I passed by everyday, that were typically paid no second mind. By leaving the shutter open for sometimes several hours, lighting the scenes with moonlight, street lamps, factory lights, and passing cars, the landscape took on a surreal quality that echoed my own emotional reaction (and disbelief) regarding the health of the land we live on.
11 comments:
I do like how the pictures are taken, it shows the different types of light and it shows alot of deatls and i really like it. its eye catching and every cool.
Melissa Russell
Photo 3-4
Period. 2
9-3-08
I think the pictures are fantastic looking in an artistic way, as well as tragic looking in reality. It deffinitly does show how some scourt of natural disaster has struck it. Everything about the images are interesting, the lighting, the detailed color, and what it portrays.
Stephanie Latendresse
photo 3-4
period 5
9-4-08
I really like this person's work. It's really creative and different. He's really passionate about his work and I like that. In the end, it's really cool.
Ryan Hamlin
Photo 3-4
Period 1
9-7-08
I really like his work its differnt then other aristic people it seems to me he's trying to show something that even a disatier can be something beautiful. Either way he's a way creavtive person.
^_^ Alyssa
these images are really strong and powerful. they almost look fake or like miniature set ups. they tell a story and the background is really cool and clear.
This images look great. They show different portions of light and the shade. They look like they were edited, not natural. All three photos are really cool and interesting to look at.
Diana Kobielarz
Photo 3-4
Period 2
9-15-08
I really like the pictures. Especially the second one. I love old, dilapidated buildings. I just find them so interesting, and I wonder who used to live there, or what it was used for.
Olivia Ottinger
Photo 3-4
Period 2
9/21/08
i think these are very interesting pictures at first i thought it was just a bunch of rundown buildings with photoshop and stuff but after i read about how he took the pictures to show how discusting the air was made them even better
i like how the picture looks like painting it really shows how things were like during war times.
it really puts a depressing effect on you. but i really the picture.
photo 3-4
period.2
10-6-08
I like this work. It looks like something taht would be in a war movie, like after a bunch of troops went through the town and destroyed it.
I think its incredible that such a disaster actually exists right down the block from the artist. I kind of feel like it might be a slight exageration because they look like they're taken in different settings so it could be dispersed through out the city. So if I were to give the photographer a tad bit of advice I would say that they should try capturing the destruction in one photo to show that theres a whole part of a city left to disenegrate.
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