Home Improvement (1997-2023)
Growing up in New York City, my family, as well as everyone we knew, rented our apartments. Rent was reasonable, and buying an apartment in the city never really entered people's minds. If something needed fixing you would just call (or take the elevator) to speak with the building superintendent, known as the Super, who usually lived rent-free in his basement apartment, and he would come right up and take care of the problem.
In 1997 Kathy and I bought our first house, and sadly, it did not come with a Super living in our basement. If and when problems occurred, or we wanted to build something, it was up to me to deal with it. Except for minor jobs, building and fixing things are not my strength, so for the first time I needed to go through the process of hiring workers with an expertise that I did not possess.
We had been looking for a house with room for my darkroom and workspace, someplace that I could have a photography business that was separate from our living area. The house we found was built in 1935, and had a raw, third floor walk-up attic that was a perfect space for my needs. But we also knew it needed to be expanded and renovated with the addition of dormers, water, heat, electricity, and everything else that comes along with turning an unusable, raw space into a usable working office and darkroom.
Six months after our purchase, I began the process of interviewing carpenters. I met with a number of folks, and I realized pretty quickly that my decision would not be based on price alone, but also on finding someone who I could get along with, and who would be empathic to my concerns. I knew I would be making daily decisions as the space was in the process of being built, and I wanted to hire someone who could go with my flow, and me with his. Luckily I hired the right person when Joe and I agreed to work together. From the beginning of the renovation, I began photographing Joe, his team, and the renovation’s progress, and when Joe built a cork-board in the studio to hold photographs, I pinned some up and had a small exhibition for the workers. They were overjoyed seeing themselves up on a wall that they were involved in building.
For the last 26 years, whenever we hire someone, or our town works on a project on our street, I grab my camera gear and begin to document the workers and their progress, often giving them photographs as an appreciation for letting themselves be documented.
We are still living in the same house we bought over two decades ago, and I am still working on my photography in that same third floor attic space that Joe renovated way back in 1997. I also know that this old house will need plenty more work in the future, and when it does I will once again be grabbing my camera gear to document the progress.
(For image data, click thumbnail and hover cursor over enlarged photographs)
