Today Maria and I had a wonderful interview with John Manley, supervisor of the night shift at the Bronx 2 Garage. I took some pictures along the way, which has led to two photo-related ideas we've had with regards to the exhibition. The first is that it might be nice to actually have a photograph of John Manly next to the audio snippets of his interview. That way visitors visitors could get a fuller sense of him and put a face to a voice. Perhaps everyone who's yet to do an interview should make a point of photographing their interviewee?
The second idea is to include some photographs of DSNY lockerrooms, particularly if we are going to recreate one for the exhibition (which I think is a great idea). The idea is that non-DSNY-associated visitors may not understand what we're re-creating — after all, I don't know if I'd have quite believed it if I hadn't seen it.
All this said, however, my photographs aren't of the best quality. (I know, but John's tour was pretty quick and I was trying to keep up while taking pictures at the same time.) So maybe these sorts of photographs should just be postcard sized? Certainly a series of small-ish photos of the interviewees would work well next to our audio listening station.
Lastly, I've attached some photographs to give an idea of what I took. In order, they are John Manley, the Bronx 2 archive (2 photos), a collection truck, and then some areas of the lockerroom (3 photos). I took all the pictures on Nov. 8th, 2007 at around 9:30 AM.
Comments (7)
Sandra,
I had thought Haidy meant to put the photos of lockerrooms inside the lockers. That, I think, is a neat idea. Even inside the DSNY, it might work, although I can see your point that since we're already there it might not be the best place for photos of the space. However, I definitely think the photos of individuals should be near the listening stations.
Posted by Alex Starace | November 13, 2007 10:10 AM
Posted on November 13, 2007 10:10
Yes Monica, it seems that everyone has a "nook" for themselves. Some people have an individual spot, but mostly they form groups that have some national idea behind it. In many cases, there is even a flag to indicate the country where a group is from.
Posted by Maria Jose Gomez | November 12, 2007 9:49 PM
Posted on November 12, 2007 21:49
Great pictures Alex!
I love the idea of trying to recreate a locker room! I believe that the “social part” of the job starts right there!
I was thinking that if we could “find” (in the interviews we already have), some thoughts, memories, even short phrases that help us imagine the atmosphere of this space; we should try to include them as well in the recreation!
When Casey and I interviewed Frank O'Keefe, a superintendent with Bronx Lots, we were interested in exploring the social aspect of his job: his membership to the Emerald Society, the parades, the Band. We were really surprised when he also talked about “what happens” in the locker rooms. He finally said: “This job has allowed me to have 20 more years of high school” Are there any other locker-room stories?
Posted by Monica | November 12, 2007 1:24 PM
Posted on November 12, 2007 13:24
Hi all,
Alex, I love your images! About recreating a locker room, I wonder whether the fact that the exhibit is in the department of sanitation (at least this version) makes a difference. Maybe these are images we should keep for the exhibit in Kimmel where most of the viewers will not be "insiders"... I like Haidy's idea of using the lockers in the exhibition space to put images of interviewees, and maybe if we have some resources left over once the panels are printed, we could make some CDs with a booklet containing these images and portraits of those whose voices are recorded? Just thoughts...
Posted by Sandra Rozental | November 11, 2007 10:18 PM
Posted on November 11, 2007 22:18
Well, I was thinking about that. Since we all already have to have continuing contact with our interviewee (with the consent forms and all), those who don't have a photo could just ask him/her if he/she could send a snapshop. If we explain why we need it, it's a reasonable request and one that's likely to be honored. Don't you think?
Posted by Alex Starace | November 9, 2007 4:54 PM
Posted on November 9, 2007 16:54
Or another idea could be to have a couple of lockers open with these photographs inside of them, on the inside of the door?
Posted by Haidy | November 9, 2007 7:22 AM
Posted on November 9, 2007 07:22
Wow Alex, you really took some great pictures, I especially like the ones of the locker rooms! I took my camera with me yesterday when Elaine and I did our interview with Annalee Feliciano. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries and I thought we had enough juice to take a picture of Annalee but it didnt turn out! Anyways, I like your idea about the pictures of the interviewees paired up with their audio file, but I dont know how people who've already interviewed their person (like me) would be able to get a photo?
Posted by Kelly Rangel | November 9, 2007 12:04 AM
Posted on November 9, 2007 00:04