Uncut Gems

“The developers circle like vultures, hungry to turn this untamed block into another sanitized American mall. But for now, it remains an oasis, a place that still hums with the unruly soul of the city.” Jeremiah Moss

In my heart I am a street photographer. As I peruse sidewalks, hunting for pictures, I am invited into places and occasionally I say yes. I only do this when I feel a personal safety burden has been met. You learn to size people up, a skill I’ve gotten very good at.

The public nature of the street makes it seem like it’d be easy to photograph, which is part of the allure for me. The accessibility of it is plainly seen. It’s all out there. The inventory almost spills in front of your feet as you walk. Trays in these shops are heaped with so many jewels they almost resemble Legos that have been hit with a Bedazzler. It is a hard scrabble street with a lot of stories. Workshops use fire, ice, salt baths and opaque purple liquids that do god only knows what. Harry Potter but make it hood.

Some shops do their best to seem posh. Sales men wear jackets and ties but three feet away the owner is wolfing down a deli-bought lunch with a plastic fork on top of 5M worth of inventory. Other shops make no effort to be appealing. Think gems jammed into too-small cases with the hard sale method they use in Bloomingdales; you’re not escaping unless you buy something.

On 47 some businesses stretch back half a century, adapting over the decades as the industry changes. Some are brand new. One owner who invited me in explained he launched his watch company because needed a job after a layoff. He was an electrical engineer with the MTA who did a mid-life pivot. “I hate luxury” he admits. “I don’t even like jewelry”. In spite of this he’s built a luxury watch company which employs about a dozen artisans, all immigrants. So far, they have been safe from the ICE raids.

As I learn to embed myself into this work, these streets, I absorb the stories which make it thrum. Legacy businesses mean everything to the weft and weave of a neighborhood.