Hipster's Sandbox

It was in Far Rockaway that I missed a great photo, or even a great shoot. I don’t remember the time, but it was summer but pleasantly warm. I went to visit my friends who lived by the beach, and as we decided to walk the rebuilt Boardwalk, we came upon some fun adventure.

Needless to say, at this point, the Rockaways attracted a certain kind of people: hipsters. With their beards and self-righteous indignation to better the community, they moved in and called it home. It was “retro”, “cool”, and “indie” to live in the shattered remains of this place but build it up and then take that renovation away.

Getting back to point, this “activity” was surely their doing: sand castle contest. Oh, and the competitors were lovely. Some bearded, some not, some looked like they were ready to make a political statement through the sand they molded, and some…were dressed as mimes.

I hate mimes. Maybe it is the silent frown or smile they carry on white faces with a splash of black to accent what little soul they hold into their pinstripe bodies that sets me off. Or maybe it is just the fact that they act like fools but somehow their invisible control of the space around them freaks me out--- because I know there is nothing there, yet…they keep…acting as if there is. Whatever it may be, I literally said, “Oh my goodness, mimes. If he comes near me, I will shank him.” ---or something along those lines--- and then, the little jester notices my friend, and like a rodent, scampered towards us and motioned with his silent action that he was asking her out on a date.

Story of my life. Yet, the pictures I wish I captured would have been the shark-shaped sand car a team piled into, the pancake creation machine another time made real by literally flipping pancakes into the crowd with a sand seesaw mechanism, the political statement of a false human head protruding out the sand as crows ate his flesh, and of course the outrageous mimes in their outfits.

The mimes were probably my favorite, because they decided to make the “Tower of Babel”…yet being mimes, they literally made an invisible sand castle. AKA…they made nothing, but, it was there, they were there, I was there…camera-less.

In the realm of documentary photography, I couldn’t imagine a more interesting story. From the weird sculptures to the weirder people, there was so much to tell…so much to capture. I would want to capture the people and their work. I mean, you don’t dress like a mime every day and go to a sandcastle-building contest. And if you do, that is an even more intriguing tale!

The entire event was new to me, not just the people, but also the place and the things. It would have certainly been a learning experience, but then I wonder if I would have been as bold as to enter into these personal lives and document it. Either way, I would have at least gotten some cool pictures! I could image the black and white photos of gray sand against the starch contrast between the people, the characters in some funny skit. The mimes, I’d think, would certainly be quite the photogenic actors. At least, I’d hope they would be, because I could put a good word in it for him to my friend and her dating situation.

Thinking back, it would have been an adventure to take my Canon out into the sand, butt into personal team conversations, explore the lives of these silly and very dedicated sand artists…but then I remember why I laughed at the scene: for every person there, there were at least two gaudy teenage-esque looking people carrying a mammoth size photographing mechanism around their necks as they stroked their beards and ate gluten-free pancakes.

Nonetheless, I missed some great shots, an ability to record these interesting interactions. I guess I’ll just have my memories…and God know how flawed those can be. A photo however is what it captures…how a person sees it is what makes it different. I could have captured everything…differently. I wish I did.

Found the event link: CreativeTime's Sand Castle Competition