Willets Point

Ah, Willets Point. The Iron Triangle. Broken pavement, wild dogs, giant lakes of sewage, car repair places, chop shops, junk yards, garbage everywhere. Groups of men huddled around oil drums filled with burning wood salvaged from broken down pallets. Destroyed cars scattered around on each corner. The Mayor wants to replace the whole neighborhood with another megaproject-- the plans call for towers, parks, and happy residents drinking coffee from Starbucks. It's probably inevitable, with the new Mets Stadium opening right out on to Willets Point Boulevard, but it's a shame. Not just for all the guys who will probably lose their jobs-- but for New York. They take a little authenticity at a time, but one day you wake up, and bam-- you're living in Vancouver.

Related: a few posts I did about Willets Point four years ago, when I was just learning how to take pictures: Iron Triangle 1, Iron Triangle 2, Iron Triangle 3

Comments

[RINALDI]

Jake, your photograph is too large. You may affraid that somebody copying it for their personal or commercial use.

[Jake Dobkin]

i'm not too worried about people reusing the pix. they should ask first, though.

[Ilya A]

Jake, what equipment do you use to take your photos? I'm fascinated by the light and color in all of your photos. Just wondering, because I'm a photographer as well and want to put a photoblog up online just can't get around to actually making it.

[Jake Dobkin]

These were shot with a Canon 20D and a Contax T2 film camera.

[Nate K]

Excellent shots. I especially like the 1st and the 3rd. But for some reason yours seem to have a lot more people in them then mine do... why were they all hiding from me?

[Nate K]

And I agree - this town is getting neutered by Bloomberg and the NYC EDC. Time to move to Seattle.

[Janie Parrish]

That is some funny stuff the American flag painted all over a foreign auto parts store! Great picture!

[Ilya Arbit]

Thanks for the info Jake. Big fan of your photoblog. Keep up the good work.

[Isobel - Cyprus Property For Sale]

Hi Jake!
Your photos are really professional. I'm facsinated by them. Broken pavement, wild dogs, giant lakes of sewage, car repair places, chop shops, junk yards, garbage everywhere... That's our reality... Unfortunately that's true..
Thank your for sharing them with us.
Keep up your work!

[Isla - English Language]

Due to the spontaneous character of your own comment (I don’t joke, it really sounds like an avant-garde poetry, especially with all these colors of urbanity) the entire post is assuming a special character and an aesthetic value of some sort. If the photos only were BW, it would summon in my head the allusion of “Erasure-Head” industrial decorations by D. Lynch… A spontaneous reaction, isn't it?