Have A Nice Day, 85th St., Hollis, Queens 2008, by Alexander Segreti
My lease expires in May and I'm trying to figure out what neighborhood in New York to live in next year. Finding the right place, however, is no easy task. For one, trawling through Craigslist is utterly depressing. Secondly, just when I thought I had things figured out came New York Magazine's Best Places to Live in NYC in which Nate Silver, the statistician who accurately predicted 49 out of 50 states in the last election, scientifically deduced the best neighborhoods in the city based on raw data.
It's not that the rankings aren't perfectly clear, or that that blurbs about each neighborhood are not snappy enough, the problem is that while I can drill down a list of each neighborhood's attributes, I still have no idea how the neighborhood feels. I was instantly reminded of this when I came across Somewhere in Queens, a series of large-format photographs by contender Alexander Segreti. "The place I live" is a familiar prompt but rarely have I been so swayed by the place with which I am presented. Part of this is due to my vulnerable, apartment-hunting state of mind but it's also because Alexander's images perfectly capture the character of neighborhoods I hadn't even known were worth considering.
Alexander writes:
What does Queens represent to the average American, the average New Yorker for that matter? Most people know it as a slow moving, middle class place - famous for its airports and as the home of the Mets. Much of the borough developed within the lifespan of many people still living - going from a quiet celebrity haven in the 1920s, to what would be America's fourth largest city today. While millions reside in Queens, many of the streets remain lightly trafficked. As I peeled back the layers, I began to realize what makes the borough tick.
54th Ave. at Corona Ave., Corona, Queens, 2008
Aside from being good photographs, the series is successful because it cuts away at my preconceptions of Queens (LaGuardia Airport, anyone?) to show a neighborhood that is beautiful and charming in it's own right, perfect just the way it is.
As Alexander puts it:
Residents prefer the peace and quiet - close to Manhattan, yet a world away. Individuality breaks up the sameness of the streets, yet privacy is favored, just as I prefer solitude while searching for my own identity through photography. This body of work takes a closer look at the past, present, and future of Queens and serves as a chronicle of my time spent here. Camaraderie has been established - an unexpected bond connecting the landscape to my own curiosity. My explorations become an intimate retreat and the images, a personal guidebook to the borough.
It's no wonder that Sunnyside, Queens came in third on the Most Livable list. You can see the whole Somewhere in Queens series as well as several others at Alexander's website.