BLUNT WALKS WITH RAFAEL
One of my favorite hobbies besides smoking, would have to be film photography. As a kid I remember cameras being a mystery to me, I saw the flash and I heard the click of the shutter but never knew this black strip of plastic could develop into bite sized moments in time. After a while we all drifted away from it because film isn’t convenient anymore. Well me being the old fashioned hipster that I am, I feel film is more concrete than a photo on Instagram or Snapchat. There is something about capturing a moment physically that has always fascinated me. You can’t rush the process to get the perfect results, it takes time to develop.
Speaking of developing, that’s exactly what I had in mind when I went to the Lower East Side. I go to this film shop called Luster Photos on avenue A, they do some decent work and the turn around is faster than any of my local shops on the Upper West Side. So before I left my house I rolled up my obligatory 2 blunts, and I used the leftover bud to roll a dog walker, then I was out the door. I hopped on a Citibike and raced downtown making record time. So much so I got to Luster Photos before they opened. With about 30 minutes to kill, I decided to shoot some film I had left on a roll. Across from the shop is Tompkins square park, one of the green oases that can be found in the LES. Police usually are around but they focus on the outskirts of the park, the rest of the park is usually full of college kids, local families, and it’s a notorious meeting spot for skaters. So I sparked my blunt and I passed by some ping-pong tables, with one of them being occupied by an aggressive duo breaking an early morning sweat over a game of pong. Right behind them was this green lawn, which was lined by a waist high gate and was the only thing in the park not covered in shade. The way the park was built the lawn served as a place to hold a crowd. Tompkins Square Park has had a long history of protests and gatherings since the early 1800s. Luckily for me the crowd was nowhere to be seen and 38 this F O O DYsmall M A G | I S Sgrassy UE 01 I had knoll to myself. I laid in the center of the grass to catch some rays of
