East New York 2017 "I don't smile anymore..."

East New York “I don’t smile anymore…” East New York is a neighborhood of extremes. It has more methadone clinics, registered sex offenders, felony arrests, and murders, by far, than any other area in the city. Over half the population lives below the poverty line. The police there, have a long history of engaging in corrupt behavior. A broken Waste Water Treatment Plant, an area so far below sea level that it has no sewage system (nicknamed “The Hole”): the list goes on and on. I went to East New York, for three-and-one-half months, shooting photographs of abandoned building, hookers, homeless people, and trucks covered with vibrant colorful graffiti, as well as people simply going about their day to day routine. But I favored the ones who seemed to be on the edge. Three-and-one half months, one dropped camera, a scratched lens, (replaced, for free), ripped up clothing, bottles thrown my way, and countless breaks in a hundred dirty disgusting bathrooms later, it was over. This is the result.