Each season, our Photography Tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard highlight a different photographer or artist who plies their trade inside the gates of the Yard. In 2013, we featured the work of Robert Clark, Thomas Witte, Amy Fronczkiewicz, and Davina Zagury Feinberg, and each of them offered their keen eye and expertise to judge our photography contest. This Saturday, we launch the 2014 photo tour season, and we’re proud to have on board Randy Duchaine, a decorated photographer who has recently joined the Yard as part of the BLDG 92 Visiting Artist Program.
Randy has had a long career in photography that eventually landed him him here in Brooklyn. Born into a working class family in Connecticut, he was always curious, and loved to meet people – his curiosity spawned a travel bug, and he signed up to study liberal arts at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. This led him into photography, and photography led him to New York City, where he worked assisting more than 70 master photographers to start his career.
About 20 years ago he made the move from the Manhattan’s Chelsea to Brooklyn. At the time, friends were shocked by the move, but Duchaine saw unlimited potential here, and he has dived into the Brooklyn arts, culture, and small business scene with both feet. Most recently, he put on a photo exhibition and series of panel discussions called “Created in Brooklyn” at the Brooklyn Public Library, which drew great crowds – in it, he documented over 100 people and the things that they produced.
Though he is now a visiting artist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, this is not Randy’s first introduction to the site – he has been doing photo projects there for decades, and he is well acquainted with many of the tenants and historic sites of the Yard, and with the wider working waterfront in New York City. He even wrote a book on the subject, New York Waters: Profiles from the Edge (with author Ben Gibberd) about the people who work, live and play on the city’s waterways. You can see on his website an impressive oeuvre, and his particular affinity for subjects regarding the sea and waterfronts.
Besides his impressive body of work, Randy’s contagious enthusiasm and curiosity makes him a wonderful partner for this Saturday’s photo tour. So join us to learn more about his work and capture the Navy Yard with your own unique eye! If your work catches Randy’s eye and is selected as one of the top three photos submitted from the January tour, you will receive two free tickets on any future Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour offered by Turnstile Tours, as well as the chance to win our grand prize at the end of the year!
Turnstile Tours offers the Seasonal Photography Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard four times throughout the year. The first tour of the 2014 season will be Saturday, January 18 at 11am. Get more information here, and advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. We also offer our Past, Present & Future Tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard every Saturday and Sunday 2-4pm, and other special themed tours of the Yard. All tours are offered in partnership with and begin at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, which offers free admission to three floors of exhibitions on the yard’s past and present, the Ted & Honey rooftop cafe, and a host of great special events and programs.
The post was authored by Rich Garr.
