Salons
Since moving here I have been fascinated with the quantity of businesses related to the beauty industry: hair salons, nails, hair braiding, beauty supply, barber shops and wigs.
Each day I walk for a couple of hours minimum and I find doing this on the sidewalks rather than Prospect Park makes for fascinating viewing. I almost always have my digital camera with me and over time I realized I had accumulated a collection of photos relating to these businesses. So now I look for them.
When I take pics I like to do the following whenever possible:
- Take a photo with a full vertical slice of the building.
- Attempt to get an image with the business open (no metal security gates covering the windows)
- Look for opportunity to grab a photo without anything parked in front (though this can be difficult).
Not sure what really drew me to this beyond the sheer quantity of subjects available. I really like seeing the names of the businesses, those spelled correctly and otherwise. I enjoy the color schemes and the odd locations some appear. In particular I enjoy the “combination” businesses. Ultimately though, I think I do this because change is in the air here and in a decade this area will look quite different. So maybe its just about hanging onto a little bit of “right now” — where the aspirations of hard-working people are clearly evident – rather than envisioning the future of a homogenized, bland Flatbush.
Sometime this month I will be adding lists of the images I have, to make them easier to access. But for now you are welcome to have a look at some of the salon images I have that are available for viewing on my flickr account. Oh, and if you are inclined to photograph some images of salons (or associated businesses) in your own neighborhood, you are more than welome to join in the fun by geotagging them and adding them to the Brooklyn Salons group I created on flickr; and/or to the much larger group called Beauty Parlors Everywhere. (Flickr accounts are free if you do not have one.)
