Gilles is a painter from Toulouse. He travels a lot and his life is a swirl of activity, paintings, monumental changes. He had gotten married since I last saw him and was living in Hong Kong with his wife Stephanie. This picture is from right after they got married. Gilles sent me two pictures from their wedding day, so I had a little variety on this visit.
It finally snowed. Flurries were still falling when I left at dawn. Gilles told me he wanted to go to Coney Island, but the address he gave me was in fact at Rockaway Beach. He wrote it was at the end of the A line, which is definitely not in Coney Island. So I set out for the Rockaways. It is so far from everything. Traveling across Jamaica Bay, it feels as if one might fall off the edge of the world.
I have no idea why Gilles would like to be here at the entrance to the subway. It is so desolate.
Gilles wanted to be at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge as a symbol of his passage from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I had wanted to capture an suitably processional view, but the wind was not cooperating, turning Gilles and Stephanie away from the bridge.
I could only get a little of the bridge's sign and only by standing on a slippery overhang under which runs the subway.
Next into Williamsburg where I was to hang the picture near the footpath entrance to the bridge at the HSBC bank. Which is jolly except that this is not where the footbridge entrance is. It isn't far, though.
The bridge was visible in the background.
I moved on to Berry street where Gilles had a studio when he was in New York. The building has been renovated and is now being sold as luxury condos.
This corner now looks totally different, another luxury construction with an airy cafe on the ground level.
Finally, I went around the corner to the Jesus Mini Market.
Unfortunately, Gilles and Stephanie did not show up well against the mini market's awning.
They looked better here, and there was a UFO tag on the signpost as a bonus. In fact this was a pretty arty corner.
