Photography | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Double Exposure: Photographer Barry Yanowitz & Coney Island on BCAT TV

Posted in Photography, video, tagged Barry Yanowitz, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Independent Television, Caught in the Act, Coney Island on February 23, 2011| 2 Comments »

I'm going to be on tv Wednesday night... Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

Tune in tonight at 10 pm to Brooklyn Independent Television to catch photographer and ATZ contributor Barry Yanowitz on Caught in the Act. The entire segment was shot in Coney Island, where Barry grew up and lived until graduating from college in 1995. The shots that we’ve reproduced here, including the above “accidental” double exposure, are among the photos he took during the shoot. The complete set may be viewed here.

“The show features Brooklyn artists and they wanted to interview me and film me doing street photography,” Barry told ATZ. “So of course I took them to my favorite place to shoot, where there are always interesting characters wandering about! They spent most of the time filming me shooting on and under Steeplechase Pier and the boardwalk.”

We first met Barry in Coney Island and began following his photos on flickr back in 2008. Among our many faves are Astro Cat (Coney Island in the Snow), a Mermaid Parader and the reflection of Luna Park’s lights on top of a car (City of Fire).

“I really only started seriously getting into photography in the last 10 years or so. Although I do remember trying to take photos of my Star Wars figures as a kid in the 70s,” jokes Barry, when we asked if he still has his first camera. “I can’t remember what my first camera was, but one of the cameras I shoot with now is my father’s old SLR, a Canon AE-1.”

From BCAT’s program notes…

Barry Yanowitz: A stroll on the boardwalk with this photographer, who uses both the latest digital equipment and a Kodak Brownie from half a century ago. His images reflect his love of the Coney Island he grew up in, and his fascination with how the water and light reflect the way it’s changing.

Coney Island Boardwalk. February 12, 2011. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr

BCAT TV Network cablecasts in Brooklyn on Time Warner channels 34-35, and 56-57, Cablevision channels 67-70, RCN channels 82-85 and Verizon channels 42-45. For people outside of Brooklyn, go to BCAT’s website and launch channel 3. After the episode premieres, it will be rebroadcast on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2 pm and 10pm and may be viewed online. The segment is between 5-10 minutes and will be aired in an episode that also features Punk Jews and the LIU Television Writers Studio.

Produced by Jonathan Lief and Irina Khokhlova, Caught in the Act: Art in Brooklyn is a monthly show featuring profiles of Brooklyn professionals in fine art, dance, music, theatre and new forms of expression.

Opens Jan 27: Nickel Empire: Coney Island Photographs 1898-1948

Posted in Photography, tagged Coney Island, E.E. Rutter, exhibition, Nickel Empire, Schroeder Romero & Shredder, vintage photograph on January 19, 2011| 2 Comments »

E.E. Rutter, "Untitled (Steeplechase Bicycle Ride)", c. 1925, Gelatin silver print, 7 3/8 x 9 1/8 inches. Courtesy Schroeder Romero & Shredder

Photographer E.E. Rutter’s glimpse of Steeplechase Park’s Bicycle Carousel watched over by George C. Tilyou’s waggish Funny Face is among the images on view in “Nickel Empire: Coney Island Photographs 1898-1948.” The exhibition of more than two dozen vintage photos along with a charred wooden horse from the Steeplechase ride that survived one of the park’s fires opens on January 27 at Schroeder Romero & Shredder. The Chelsea gallery, which opened in the fall, exhibits contemporary art in dialogue with historical works, gallerist Lisa Schroeder told ATZ. The Coney Island photographs and the horse are from the catalogue of Shredder, a collective formed by artists Brice Brown and Don Joint and named after their arts journal The Sienese Shredder.

Among the photographs in the exhibition are “scenes of scale models of rides, incandescent night views, people at play, and the great Bowery fire,” according to the press release. Though not in the exhibition, original plans for Steeplechase Park (1897-1964) and drawings of its rides will be available for private viewing, Schroeder said. The items are from the collection of historian and Brooklyn native Frederick Fried, who died in 1994. Fried’s pioneering works America’s Forgotten Folk Arts, Artists in Wood and The Pictorial History of the Carousel, which have long held a place on our bookshelf, brought folk art and amusement park art into the mainstream of collecting.

E.E. Rutter is less well known to us. But we learned quite a bit about him from Brooklynology, the Brooklyn Public Library’s wonderful blog. Photographs by Edgar E. Rutter (1883-1964), who advertised his studio as “E.E. Rutter,” are in the collections of the Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Borough Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society. “He had a photography studio at number 8, 4th Avenue (among other locations) and was the official photographer for the Borough of Brooklyn. The subjects covered in our collection include Bush Terminal, Coney Island (with many images of the boardwalk and some well-muscled lifeguards)…”

“Nickel Empire: Coney Island Photographs 1898-1948,” January 27-February 26, 2011. Schroeder Romero & Shredder, 531 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001, 212-630-0722. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 – 6; Saturday, 11 – 6. Opening Reception: Thursday, January 27, 6-8pm.

Related posts on ATZ...

October 26, 2010: Studio Visit: Richard Eagan of the Coney Island Hysterical Society

October 26, 2010: Studio Visit: Philomena Marano of the Coney Island Hysterical Society

February 25, 2010: Happy Belated Birthday to Coney Island’s William F Mangels

November 16, 2009: Rare & Vintage: Coney Island Sideshow Banner by Dan Casola

Read Full Post »

Photo of the Day: Where the Bank of Coney Island Used to Be

Posted in Photo of the Day, Photography, tagged Coney Island in the snow, Jim McDonnell, Surf Avenue on January 17, 2011| 5 Comments »

We’d like to say: Watch this corner for coming attractions! We certainly hope it doesn’t become a flea market or remain an empty lot. The snow-covered expanse at the corner of Surf Avenue and 12th Street is where the Bank of Coney Island building stood for nearly 90 years. The building had remained vacant since real estate speculator Joe Sitt of Thor Equities bought it in 2005 for $3 million. The bank was demolished in November.

Thanks to photographer Jim McDonnell for another excellent pic from his first walk of the new year in snowy Coney Island.