New York photographer Gail Albert Halaban is working on a fine art project called Out My Window, a concept which, in its most basic description, finds her shooting out of one window into another window. These are environmental portraits with an emphasis on the surrounding view, either looking out from, or looking into, the residence of the person being photographed. It’s a simple idea but the resulting images are invitations to explore the complexities of living spaces and how they define the people inhabiting them.
Gail came out to Staten Island with her husband Boaz, a film and TV producer, to scout locations for her project. It was only her second time visiting the forgotten borough. The project, funded by the Design Trust for Public Space, requires that she shoots locations in the five New York City boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. In addition to my own apartment building, I had a few spots in mind on Staten Island’s north shore I thought she might like.
My friend Joe Scaravella has a classic taupe and green house on Tompkins Circle with a deck that overlooks the eastern harbor. His neighbor Herb’s terrace offers a convenient vantage point from a glass enclosure looking down through trees to Joe’s house. We stopped next at Ray Heffernan’s 1864 house on Harvard Avenue. It was about 4:30—sunlight sweeping in, highlighting dark wooden staircases, accenting walls full of photographs with hard cuts of gold light. Great house but not a location suited for Gail’s project. Over at Steve and Lydia’s, near Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Gail loved the view looking out from a top-floor window of their brick tudor into the neighbor’s yard.
The day resulted in nailing down several upcoming shoots with people in a combination of apartment views and house locations. I’m looking forward to watching Gail work with her 4×5 view camera and creating new images for her fantastic project.
Joe Scaravella talks about his pet chameleon, Harpo.
Ray Heffernan sits in his dining room on a late-afternoon Saturday in Staten Island.
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