Growing Up (NYC, July 2008)

Growing Up (NYC, July 2008), originally uploaded by Hernan Hernandez.

This is the dark and dingy lobby of the building I grew up in. I lived here, at the Baruch Houses housing project, from between the ages of 10 to 20. That was many moons ago... but it still looks almost exactly the same. I can look into this lobby and see my father and mother walking in and looking back at me.

Photographer's Note: This image was balanced for daylight and it took Photoshop all of it's might to do so (requiring several steps). That little florescent light above is not just a fluorescent light... it is an industrial strength, "Projects" fluorescent light and casts a super-sickly green-yellow tinge... and that is just not how I remember my childhood!

Also note that this lobby indeed was dark and dingy -- even in the middle of a sunny Summer's day with the sun blazing down upon the entrance. Somehow, these Projects' lobbies suck up all of the light. My on-camera flash, along with a little Photoshop magic helped the sun out in this case.