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.

Leaky Water Tower (NYC, July 2008)

Leaky Water Tower (NYC, July 2008), originally uploaded by Hernan Hernandez.

This Water Tower can be found at the Lillian Wald housing project on the Lower East Side of New York. If you look carefully, you'll see water flying off this water tower towards the bottom left.

Note to the NYC Housing Authority: get a repair crew there ASAP, before there is a tragedy and you drown your own tenants!