Walking in my Hood

I had some extra time yesterday and I wanted to practice some more photography, so I decided to take a short walk around my neighborhood. Sad to say I was a little apprehensive, since I was taking out my long lens, I didn't want anyone bothering me, but I decided to go out and see how things went. One of the first things I decided I needed a picture of was my neighbor's garage. I always laugh at his little door within the door. The funniest part is that he fits it, since he's the tiny Italian man that sweeps the driveway obsessively

From Jersey City

There are quite a few funny old men who walk around my neighborhood. When I turned the corner and snapped a shot of the view down the street another little Hispanic man started talking to me. I couldn't tell if it was Spanish or English so I just smiled. He asked if I lived around and I said yeah somewhere around here. I wasn't sure if he was asking me to take his picture or not to take his picture so I erred on the side of caution and passed by without taking one.
I've heard that tennis shoes draped over wires mean that there is a drug seller around. I don't know if that's true or not. I tend to think not, since these "Air Jordans" were on the line right outside the school at the end of the block. It seems more likely that some antagonistic high schooler threw them up there.
On the other side of the street I saw a religious figure in a bottle. Many people have Jesus or Mary in their yard, but this one made me laugh because I assume the bottle was supposed to protect the figure, but it made it look like the thing was trapped or in jail. For some reason the way mailboxes attach to the brick makes this happen fairly often. My mailbox is often swinging all cockeyed like this person's.


This photo isn't the best ever, but when I saw her I knew I had to share. Her cart is something everyone owns. It's the quintessential Jersey City accessory. We all just walk around with them to carry groceries or laundry, sometimes even kids!

I ran into other people too, one guy was sure I was on school assignment, another thought I should take his picture because he was "wild and exciting". I didn't because he was too close for my long lens.

Finally, I was taking a picture of a building and a guy from the Islamic center came over and asked what I was doing and invited me in for some info on Islam and a cool drink. He told me he wasn't trying to recruit me, he just wanted people to understand so we could live peacefully. Only his heavily accented English made it sound more like wistfully and I had a hard time figuring out how he wanted us to live for a second. I haven't read the books yet, but he pointed out the section where it shows the development of babies, not sure why that was a point he thought I should know.

There are often strange things strewn about the street and sidewalks, abandoned clothing or air conditioners or even large pieces of lumber. I'm not really sure where it all comes from. I'm guessing someone was tired of smelling "Black Ice" in this case.
It was just funny to me to think that no one could really imagine me just taking pictures as a hobby. I'm sure it has to do with the neighborhood, but to me it's like asking why you play basketball. Except I think the camera intimidates people and they're all suspicious of it

From Jersey City

From Jersey City