On New Years Day I went down to down to Coney Island. It was 17 degrees outside. Hundreds of other people were there. We all came to run into the ocean and start our new year with a frigid cleanse. It was cold. Very, very cold. The water was 37 degrees. It took 4 hours for the feeling to come back to my toes. It was awesome & exhilarating I will be back next year….but not barefoot.
Every single year Mermaids and Mermen gather up all their funky sea creature friends and take over Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. The Mermaid Parade is a mix of Burlesque, Cosplay, Sideshow and Circus all rolled into one phenomenal day on the boardwalk. I love the Mermaid Parade and I was super excited to have a chance to head down to the beach and be a part of this one of a kind event!
This summer I found myself forced to work a temporary job down in Sheepshead Bay for 3 days. At first I wasn’t to pleased, but then I decided to walk myself down to Coney Island. I love Coney. I always have. What a crazy place it is! I remember when I first moved to New York 8 years ago, I thought Coney Island was just this little amusement park on some tiny island somewhere in NYC.
While I started to shoot these photos I got very excited. Coney Island in the middle of summer on a hot, hot weekend…Perfect. Everything this strange little slice of New York had to offer it did, and it offered it on grimy old paper plate covered in sand and grease.
How did you imagine Coney before you came, when you heard people drunkenly planning a trip in some dive bar or on some rooftop somewhere. Maybe your only idea of Coney Island came from Warriors the movie or someone who slapped pasties on their chest and green glitter all over and marched off to the Mermaid Parade. Maybe you know some maniac who headed to the beach on the first day of the new year to freeze their balls off in the Polar Bear Plunge, maybe you still haven’t gone to Coney Island!!
Well, summer is ending…. so I suggest you grab some friends and hop on the train…Cuz summer ain’t complete without a lil Coney Island mixed in…
