 Night Lights New development, through the lens of Flint Gennari |
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Staten
Island Photog
Documents Borough Night Life |
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By
Gary Buiso
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Gennari's work can now be |
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Eventually, Gennari hopes | ||
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Photographer Flint Gennari is capturing Staten Island-one frame at
a time. In the predawn light, Gennari travels around with his camera in tow, looking for hidden streetscapes and scenes, in search of the borough's soul. His photographs offer a haunting beauty, as light transforms a sidewalk blue or the sky purple. The images show the borough without its human element; the only reminder of our presence is by the structures we build. Some recall the starkness of painter Edward Hopper's "Night Hawks," without the lonely patrons sitting in the diner. |
seen
on the website www.mapofstatenisland.com.
a work in progress that will eventually hold over 50 photographs taken
all over the borough. "Most people are caught up in the bustle of the day," he said. "They don't see these things," Gennari said. Before sunrise is "right before the transformation," he continued," when the working people hit the streets and change the city." Before that time, Gennari said, the city is simply "made up of architecture." He prefers to keep street names out of his work, instead letting people feel a sense "of deja vu" when they see something almost |
tocompile
maps for all five boroughs, and is planning a trip to Rome, Italy
in the near future. The Staten Island website, he said, "is a
small part of a larger project." MapofstatenIsland.com is an outgrowth of Gennari's "Morning Project" a series he has worked on for the past 10 years. Funding for the website project, $3,500 in total, comes from the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island and Time Warner and JP Morgan Chase. At night, Gennari can be seen throughout the borough, scouting locations for his next shoot. "It's a lot easier for me to move around then...and the |
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 Photographer Flint Gennari is mapping Staten Island, one frame at a time. |
familiar.
"It may make them look again," Gennari said.A photographer
since age nine, Gennari was raised in Brooklyn and currently lives
in Snug Harbor. He is one of the few state certified photographers
working in the borough. He employs and "extended exposure technique" keeping the camera's shutter open much longer than usual, allowing light and color every opportunity to fill the frame. |
light
is absolutely gorgeous," he added.When he is not gathering material
for the website, Gennari and partner Sara Signorelli run a studio,
Fine Art Fotos, Inc., 118 Prospect Avenue in New Bringhton. The studio
specializes in wedding and commercial photography. Gennari's work can also be seen at exhibits throughout the borough, at a host of local banks, including Victory State Bank on Hyatt Street. |
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 St. George Clipper Before dawn is Gennari's favorite time to capture images. |
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Siah Armajani Sculpture at the St. George Ferry "Most people are caught in the bustle of the day- they don't see these things, "said photographer Flint Gennari. |
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