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The title of Leon Levinstein’s knockout exhibition of photographs at the Met, “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players,” doesn’t exactly exhaust his range of subjects. Staking out New York’s busiest public arenas—Times Square, Coney Island, Washington Square Park—Levinstein photographed hookers, housewives, businessmen, cross-dressers, and the permanently down-and-out with no trace of sentimentality but plenty of heart. From the early nineteen-fifties until a few years before his death, in 1988, he worked on the fly, and almost always without engaging his subjects. Maybe that’s why his pictures still feel so urgent and raw. Levinstein refined his Bauhaus-on-the-Bowery compositions, but he never blunted his hit-and-run attack. He wasn’t slumming or judging; a loner himself, he was communing with New York at its grittiest, clearly relishing the experience. The museum owns every print here, yet the work doesn’t cozy up to the Met. Hung in these posh galleries, it looks all the more brutal, brilliant, and uncompromising.

- Vince Aletti, The New Yorker

Guest starring Dezzy Dez.

Images from my first attempt at shooting with a Fed 2.

Purchased this camera earlier in the week … it’s my first attempt at shooting film and using a rangefinder camera, I hope my first few rolls don’t come out terrible. Think I’ll invest in an Industar 61 LD lens in the future, the shots they produce seem more contrasty which I prefer. Here’s some information on the Fed 2:

Coming from the (Ukraine-based) Fed factory that’s known for its well-crafted cameras, The Fed 2 is a series of rangefinder cameras with six variations – Fed 2a, Fed 2b, Fed 2c, Fed 2d, Fed 2L, and Fed 2e. The differences between these models are minimal – only a few adjustments, mostly design-related. Later models are improved with a self-timer, and a dioptic adjuster (which allows the photographer to adjust the viewfinder’s magnification according to their vision). Like the other Feds in the family, it boasts the much-revered Industar lens, famous for producing sharpness, contrast and high resolution.

For anyone who’s ever dreamed of owning a Leica, consider the more-reasonably priced, but equally-sharp Fed 2. An avid rangefinder collector (by the name of Stephen Rothery) has this to say – “(The Soviet Fed 2) has taken everything that was good about German pre-war cameras and created an unknown timeless classic which is in a league of its own.”

Ended up troopin it out to this show. Here’s some photos of Decepticon Sean and Styles Pinero the other night at Highline Ballroom. Jada, Sheek, and Monch all made guest appearances throughout the night too.

(Photos via Village Slum)

(Via Bowery Boogie)