Harry

Harry, Grace, Larry, Don (and Eddie)

Crown Heights
Brooklyn
1979

Harry

During my second year in New York City, I met Harry after I followed up an advertisement in the paper, placed by the landlady of the building, for a furnished room in a large apartment. It was located on the top floor of a building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. A hall led to two other bedrooms, one which was rented by Harry and the other was occupied by Don who was my second roommate. We shared the bathroom, kitchen and living room.

Harry worked steadily as a taxi driver at various times of the day and night. His girlfriend, Grace, was a frequent visitor and she spent the night in his room many times. Harry was very grounded and a calm guy. He was more conservative or traditional than Don and I, but we all liked each other a lot and got along well.

Sometimes the three of us. who were all in our twenties, would hang out in the kitchen, listen to music and talk while making something to eat. At the time, the radio was often playing tracks from Michael Jackson's album Off the Wall and "Rock with You" was the song we heard most often. None of us had a lot of money, which helped us see life in a similar way.

My roommates knew I was a photographer and they were fascinated by it. Sometimes I would take casual pictures of them. One day I set up a temporary photo studio in my room, with lighting that I could control and a grey blanket as a background. I took several portraits of Harry and Grace on black and white as well as color film. They enjoyed my instructions for posing and my enthusiasm when I liked what I saw through the camera lens as well as the final images. I gave copies to them which became memories of a special time in our lives.

Grace, the girlfriend of my roommate, Harry

Grace

Grace was the girlfriend of one of my roommates, Harry, in an apartment that I lived in during my earliest days in New York City.

Grace was a frequent visitor, and she often spent the night in Harry's room when he was out driving his taxi. Grace was friendly to my other roommate, Don, and to me. She was curious about my photography and other activities. She became a willing model and photo subject.

I captured Grace with Harry and alone in a photo studio that I set up in my room. She was very cooperative and she liked hearing my enthusiasm when I said that she looked good or that I got the photo that I wanted.

When I look at the images of Grace, I vividly remember those days when we were all young and open to life’s experiences. Grace was a warm and appealing person and she was very much a part of the dynamics of that apartment and life with my roommates.

Larry, the brother of one of my roommates, Harry

Larry

During my second year in New York City, when I shared a large apartment with two roommates, Harry and Don, I took several photographs of them in my room where I had set up a temporary photo studio. In addition, I took pictures of Harry's girlfriend, Grace. My roommates enjoyed my instructions for posing and my enthusiasm when I liked what I saw through the camera lens.

One evening, Larry, Harry's brother, stopped by. He saw me photographing others, while we were drinking beer and generally having a good time. Larry, who was taller than Harry, worked as a security guard. I thought he had an interesting look and I asked if I could take his picture, too. Larry had already seen some of the photos that I had taken and he observed the casual, positive environment. He didn't have a lot of pictures of himself and he decided to join in and be captured by my camera.

I thought Larry was a good subject and I took portraits of him in dramatic as well as informal lighting, including one where he was holding a can of beer in a somewhat humorous manner. When he saw the results, he liked the photos a lot.

The photographs of Larry are among the images taken during a special, memorable time with people I will never forget.  

Don

Don

Don was originally from Babylon, Long Island. He was very intelligent but undecided about his direction in life. To supplement his odd jobs, he sold marijuana, which was handled so discreetly by him and outside of the apartment that if didn’t affect the rest of us at all, even though Harry and I also smoked joints during that time.

Don and I quickly bonded and we became good friends. Whenever I spent time with him, usually just talking in the apartment, we found that we had an astonishing amount in common based on our observations of people and the world. We agreed about a great deal but we also genuinely liked each other.

Don was not quite successful in adapting to the workday world. He had a certain mild non-conformist element in him. He was exploring the world on his own, far apart from his suburban Long Island upbringing and family influence.

Don would sometimes roll his marijuana joints, meticulously, then talk with me for long periods of time. There was nothing that he ever said that wasn't filled with truths and insights. In that sense, he was one of the best people I have known. We understood each other completely on many philosophical topics.

Don had some past difficulties with his girlfriends and he told me some personal details about his trials. My conversations with him in the evenings and late nights were also prompted by my having a possession that Don did not have: a television. We would watch programs together until I got sleepy and told him that I had to go to bed. However, I didn't mind him staying in my room for a while longer, viewing my TV, until he was also ready for bed (I completely trusted him in that respect).

The time that I spent with Don remains among the best and coolest, most significant memories in my early New York life.

Eddie, the son of the landlady

Eddie

There was another male, Eddie, the son of the landlady, who sometimes stayed in the fourth small bedroom in the front of the apartment. He used some drugs and drank a good deal although it didn't show that much. He was really a gentle soul who never quite fit in but who never caused any problems.

Eddie would occasionally but briefly join our conversations. He never cooked in the kitchen or used the bathroom, in part because he could always use those areas downstairs in his mother's apartment. So he never interfered with our routines. Nevertheless, during the few times that he was present in the living room while we were there, he liked being accepted even though he had nothing in common with the rest of us.

Eddie let me know that he admired my running in the park each morning. He knew that I was taking pictures of my roommates and I wanted to include him as a part of our lives. Eventually, I took Eddie's picture, too, inside the apartment and outside on the street in front of the building where we all lived.

Unfortunately, on my birthday in November, I came home and found out from Harry that Eddie had died that day, apparently from a drug overdose. It was a surprising and sad birthday coincidence for me and a heartbreaking time for his mother. Don and Harry also felt very bad for Eddie. We never knew much more about his life or his passing.