BrookLens

Photo: Tracy Collins

THIS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS I’m taking is really opening my eyes. Not just to the world around me, but also to how others photograph that same world. I’ve become captivated by the work of two people I don’t know but for their Flickrstream and blog. They’re evidently neighbors of mine here in brownstone Brooklyn; I recognize their turf because it’s very close to my own.

Photo: Tracy Collins

Tracy Collins (threecee on Flickr) is a professional web and graphic designer who has spent a lot of time documenting the furor surrounding Atlantic Yards, the destruction of the old and the rising of the new. His technical prowess is immense and he does fancy things like time-lapse photography. I’ve photographed some of the same blocks and buildings here in Prospect Heights, often hastily and indifferently. Tracy photographs the neighborhood with love and attention and strikingly saturated color. And captures the moment — the interesting moment.

Photo: Amy Feezor

I also stumbled recently upon M-Dashing, the year-and-a-half old blog of Amy Feezor, copy director at Real Simple magazine and resident of Brooklyn Heights. She groups photographs thematically, which makes the whole add up to more than the sum of its parts. Amy crafts worthwhile blog posts out of things that otherwise might fly right under the radar, like minor graffiti and random touches of red (that last for Valentine’s Day). She’s one to watch, and I’m watching.

Photo: Amy Feezor