stefano giovannini’s journals

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Pre Passover/Pesach celebration in the Satmar section of Williamsburg. Religious jews burn leftover food that is forbidden during Passover. Mostly leavened bread and container.

Small fires scattered around the neighborhood. More people joined and threw boxes containing various items. I saw even brooms and toasters in the burning pyre.

Fire alarms went off and a truck of FDNY ladder 11 extinguished the flame. I had a good photo of that but the fireman realized that he was not wearing his helmet and might get in trouble if the picture ends up in a paper.

A man posed for me and told me I could take his picture standing in front of others.

Other hasids asked me if I had a card and a website.

The fire at some point was hot and the smoke was toxic. It dried my pants but my feet and socks remained soaked and made me smell like a chimney sweeper.

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Hard to shoot at some crowded press conference photo op. A ton of photographers and videographers nervous and jumpy carrying expensive  heavy cameras and a folding step stool.

My camera is not as fast as a Nikon D3, so it makes me think about how to get a shot that is not a photocopy of a photo op reality show.

At least I do not have to carry a ladder on my backpack and no heavy telephoto lenses as I just find it nicer to get close.

I do not know much about Beyoncé Knowles. She was here to let the media know about her cosmetology school that will possibly offer opportunities to people that have difficulties in finding a career path and having a satisfying life.

Beyoncé Knowles looked exactly how she appear on magazine covers. Perfect make up and fake eye lashes.

I am more attracted to more natural looks.

A reporter found ironic that she was giving this press conference at some addiction recovery program location, and her school was targeted to many recovering addicts while her partner Jay-Z songs are all about drugs.

Coney Island Avenue and Avenue K, Brooklyn NY

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Josef Ostrowicz was in the Warsaw ghetto for 2 years. after the war he was one of the founders of Israel. He has been married with Galina, originally from Russia, for 18 years. They speak Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Polish, Russian but almost no English. 5 years ago they moved to the USA, Benson Hurst Brooklyn. She said the services and support for the Holocaust survivors is much better in the USA than in Israel.

The 2 ladies became friends at the concentration camp, the person from the organization told me. She told me they would not let me take their picture, she could not take a photo of them herself. But when I asked they said yes and they even gave me their first / last name.

We ate some chicken and vegetables. I asked Joseph, the holocaust survivor if he only ate kosher and he said no with a smile. But I wonder if we got lost in translation.

I told his wife I love Borodinsky bread. She asked me why I like that. she said Kiev bread is a lot better and that I should learn Russian or Hebrew so we could have a conversation.

May 26, 2009
Marriott Hotel, Brooklyn, NY

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More than 3000 Satmar orthodox jews gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott to decry the real estate development in Toledo, Spain that threatens some very old jewish cemetery. Apparently the graves would be relocated and this is unacceptable to some orthodox Jews as graves should be left alone “for the eternity”.

Some view it as a way to erase Jewish historical presence in Europe.  I wonder if the developers are just motivated by greed rather than ideology. These are sensitive issues and I can’t find an answer although I always feel it is a shame to destroy or deface symbols of the past.

A rabbi tells me it would be less sacrilegious to build on top of a cemetery rather than moving the graves. That for Jews and Muslim the resting place has to be left alone in peace. I think about cemeteries in Italy that after a few years the remains get collected and removed from the tomb and put in a smaller box in a little crypt. I think about that small Jewish-Portuguese cemetery in Chinatown that is a little patch in between residential buildings. And the issues with the African burial ground in downtown Manhattan.

A rabbi starts wailing and mourning for those dead 500 years ago in Spain.

More than 1000 Satmars are outside trying to get in but there is no room. The NYPD and security have to intervene.

Some hotel guests look very uncomfortable.

I find it a very interesting experience, and I find strange being the only photographer apart from the official hasidic one covering the event.

People at the beginning do not want to be photographed but then after a while they ask me for my card and if I can put these photos on my website.

Here is more info about the Jewish cemetery in Toledo