“Brooklyn Navy Yard: Building 128”, photograph
“Brooklyn Navy Yard: Admirals’ Row, Grand Ballroom”, photograph
“Brooklyn Navy Yard: GMD Shipyard”, photograph
Twilight on the Waterfront: Brooklyn’s Vanishing Industrial Heritage
My photographs bring you inside places you may have walked by a thousand times and always wondered about. They take you into Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront, a world closed to the public for decades. These fenced-off factories, refineries and shipyards lining our waterfront are often beautiful and full of surprises. They are also quickly disappearing. In 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Brooklyn’s entire industrial waterfront at the top of their “Most Endangered” list. Many of the places in my photographs have already been torn down as the pace of development quickens.
Once, Brooklyn had the most vital working waterfront in America. Today, its industrial heritage is almost gone. My photographs document the twilight of the waterfront.
I grew up within view of the San Francisco Navy Yard and now live two blocks from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. I have always been fascinated by the edges of waterfront cities. My documentary work is informed by many artists, including the anonymous photographers of the international Urban Exploration movement. They explore the off-limits parts of cities while ignoring traditional trespassing laws. Visiting old tunnels, factories and military bases, they document the true history of the urban landscape. Through their large network of online photography communities, I’ve met many talented photographers who were often with me as I explored the waterfront.
Now Exhibiting at the
Brooklyn Public Library
June 17, 2008 – August 30, 2008
Central Library, Grand Lobby
For more information on the exhibit, click here.
and at
The Brooklyn Museum
Click! A Crowd Curated Exhibit
June 27–August 10, 2008
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/
Contact the artist: http://kensinger.blogspot.com/
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