New York City Street Photography: Satmar Hasidic Williamsburg

Street photography is the perfect medium to record the rapidly changing nature of our lives. It’s illuminating, educative and it triggers curiosity in the viewer about its subject. Suzanne Stein‘s photos of Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidic Jewish community are the perfect example. Combined with her powerful writing, these photos open a window into the lives of our fellow New Yorkers from Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I have decided to go to Williamsburg today. It’s cold, very cold….28 degrees will be the high temperature. The last time I went, it was even colder, and the wind chill was 16 degrees. I had to abandon the day after only an hour, unable to operate my camera, my fingers numb and oddly painful, my feet almost completely useless, heavily weighted by the frigid air, my toes screaming in the state just before frostbite sets in.

What’s interesting to me is that many of the people in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Satmar Hasidic Jewish people that I love to photograph are not dressed for the frigid weather. Almost nobody wears gloves, or anything on their hands, preferring instead to cross arms over chest, hands stuffed into sleeves, hiding bare fingers from the cold air. Few heavy winter coats, no boots except for a few women wearing attractive, thin leather knee high boots that do nothing to protect the wearer from the weather. Nobody is bundled against the cold and most are dressed impeccably as if for a somber, public event with an elevated dress code. But they push through the day, accommodating the customs surrounding dress, and suffer the winter weather without bending to the protocols dictated by freezing winter temperatures.

Leave a Comment