Street-Shooting in the Eldridge St. Synagogue and Chinatown

A 'Composition in the Field' Photo Essay

Eldridge St. in NYC offers a variety of cultures, architectural flourishes and street portraits

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Chinatown, NYC is a bustling and exotic community that begs to be photographed with each area a distinct energy all its own. But there is one block on Eldridge Street, that seems a little more of a hipster hangout than some of the other sections, say Columbus Park over on Mulberry. That is not the only distinction that Eldridge holds though. Eldridge St. has retained a remnant of its former existence, dating back to  the 19th century when it was home for the largest jewish population in the world.
DPA Instructor Jill Enfield brought 3 students to Eldridge Street one Sunday, since Saturday shoots would not have allowed entrance to the Eldridge St. Synagogue, built in 1887. They hold services on the Sabbath every Saturday. But Sunday, with a welcome from the synagogue management the 5 of us dropped in as their guests, exempted from the entrance fee. First there was the magnificent building itself, beautifully captured by Yelena Angelbeck.

 

Yelena went on to slowly introduce the old world interiors with a peek through the entrance way.

And then a full view from the balcony

as well as other visitors who were kind enough to allow themselves to be photographed as they were illuminated by the sun that streamed in from the stained glass windows.

In addition to the golden hue of the woodwork and benches there were closeup details that were worth capturing, the main stain glass in the center of the space above the pulpit, another image provided by Yelena.

Fellow attendee Lisa Greenberg focused on abstractions and details that told a visually pleasing story as shown in the two images just below.

Jessica Schary, the third attendee, offered her own take on that day, finding new ways to see the interior of the 120 year old sanctuary, including a number of silhouettes against the stain glass windows, thanks to one or two individuals who were happy to pose for the group.

Jessica made a study of the perspective less taken, including directly above,

or a bug's view of the corridors and aisles throughout the structure.

as well as a study of various stained glass windows and the structures that were in their proximity.

We left the synagogue and remembered that we were actually in Chinatown. It was easy to find some local shopkeepers to mug for the camera and we ordered smoothies while we snapped away, this one below another taken by Lisa. This shop is one of many that enable a myriad of environmental portrait ops. All day would not have been enough time to get all there was to shoot.

And then just two doors down we chatted with Reverend Great Monk, who invited us inside to take photos of another place of worship, a Buddhist Temple

We hope to see more of Jessica, Lisa and Yelena on other shoots throughout NYC, such as Grand Central, Central Park, Soho, The High Line Park, Harlem and more.

Says Jessica, "I had a great time yesterday and learned a lot! I have to say, I've taken a few photography classes that have met weekly but learned much more in our 3 hours together than I ever did during one of my weekly classes because I was able to work with Jill on certain things on the spot Thanks Jill!!"