I was going through binders of negatives the other day and came upon this photo of the Red Hook Grain Terminal, a hulking landmark on an industrial stretch of the South Brooklyn waterfront. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closed the terminal 60 years ago, but unlike other industrial sites in the borough, it has neither been razed nor repurposed. Built from reinforced concrete and (according to Wikipedia) standing 12 stories (37 meters) tall, the 1922 building towers over its low-rise neighborhood. It has a severity — a menace, nearly — that makes the “Brutalist” architecture of the 1960s-1970s seem in comparison almost cuddly.
As a transplant from the Rust Belt whose childhood landscape abounded with industrial structures, I have always been drawn to this building, as have a great many other photographers. A quick search online reveals an abundance of photographs that revel in the contradictions of its setting (notwithstanding its industrial character, the Brooklyn waterfront is lovely and in some places is being extensively re-developed).
I set out to do something different with my photo, taken in 2022. Aiming for a dispassionate documentary approach in the style of Bernd and Hilla Becher, I used my Chamonix 4×5 field camera and Ilford Ortho Plus film, an unsparing (at times ghostly) emulsion that is nonetheless incredibly sharp. Not long after I arrived and set up the camera, however, the light drizzle that had been forecast to dissipate later that morning began falling more emphatically. Precise adjustments being thus off the table, I decided to lean in the other direction, using the camera’s movements to exaggerate areas of sharpness and blur. Although the rain did later stop, giving me time to attempt a more traditional shot from a different vantage point, this photo was the keeper. I made a 16 x 20 print in the darkroom which I displayed for a while in a hall outside my office, though I never thought about sharing it until I came across the negative in a binder earlier this week.
I hope you enjoy it.
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Gary Smith on Red Hook Grain Terminal – A One Shot Story
Comment posted: 29/04/2025
Although I hale from Jersey, and I've spent quite a bit of time in Manhattan and the Bronx, Brooklyn was never much of a draw for me. I do recall going to a wedding there in the early 1970's. Interesting that the acreage hasn't been repurposed? Or that the building hasn't been converted into lofts? When I saw your one-shot photo, I thought perhaps we were going to hear about Soviet Russia. It certainly doesn't look cuddly. Thanks for sharing - I have yet to take my Toyo 45a out for any meaningful shots. I need to acquire new chemistry to replace the Df96 that doesn't seem to like the Fomapan 100 sheet film (of which I have 48 sheets left).