Tag Archives: Brooklyn

Documented Binge Drinking at the Mafia Mansion

There really isn’t much to say…  this was shot in my old apartment in Brooklyn, a four-story brownstone just off the Gowanus canal.   There are many stories and myths about this house, mostly regarding the Italian mafia.  From the looks of the interior this is possibly true.  The place is decked out in gold lame wallpaper, orange diner booths, wainscoting, mirrors everywhere, and an equal bar to bath ratio.  The owners are said to now reside in New Jersey, and occasionally show up to sign leases in tracksuits and gold chains.  There are even rumors of Frank Sinatra himself partying in this house.  Many of these stories were recounted at Anthony’s, a 100-year-old Italian restaurant across the street.

At the turn of the century, a huge flywheel did come apart from a nearby factory, flying thousands of feet through the air and crushing the top floor of the house.  That I know happened, as I saw the microfiche myself.  When I lived there it was a real co-op, we shared food, cooking responsibilities and many other chores, it was a total pain in the ass, but I loved it.  Now my wonderful friend Marela Zacarias lives there… the chain of friends never ends at the Mansion.

On this evening, it was far to wet to shoot outside and Marela invited us over for happy-beer drinking-playtime.  We set up a rigorous schedule that included shot gunning a beer, changing costume, and getting ready to take the next photo every 30 minutes.  Needless to say things got sloppy, and after a while we didn’t really follow the shooting schedule too closely.  These are the images of debauchery at the Mafia Mansion.

Brooklyn Bridge

Sometimes after a night of shooting, I wake up with a photography hangover.  Today is such a day.  I think back, things are fuzzy; I wonder what happened the night before.  Did I get the shot?  What that the right exposure?  And then I look at the work.  Like a long night of drinking, moments I thought were brilliant were total flops, and moments of blah, turn out to be the most meaningful.  Part of me craves a re-do, but like any great party there will be another one soon, so I try not to worry. Second chances abound.

Not that I was truly disappointed with the work last night, it is just that I can see how much better we can do.  Along with seeing how much better we can do, I am also starting to recognize the art of collaboration.  My natural instinct, for some reason is to stand square to the camera, like we are facing off, a duel per say.  Aloyse, has a natural propensity to dancing in front of the camera.  It must be the obsessive compulsive in me that desires such rigid symmetry and fears messy images.  In last night’s work, you can really see when Aly was directing, and when I was directing.  Not that either style is better than the other, and actually it might be why we work so well together.  Ultimately, I feel that one of the final images we did, a dance image, was the strongest.

Finally, a word on clichés: I am still struggling with subject.  I know this work is about spirituality, spirit, ritual, the goddess, dance, religion, and more, but how to bring that to the image?  Well, sometimes there is the need to explore clichés.  Possibly to just get them out of the way.  If you do it once, then at least you don’t have to do it again unless it is really working.  Last night for some odd reason, there was a lot of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism in the work.  Chakras and many armed goddesses.  I have no idea why the Brooklyn Bridge brought that out in the work but there it is.  Ok, sorry I am a little rambly today heat does that to me.  So with out further adieu…