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From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part III: Birds On A Wire
Filed under: New York City
Taken by Will Star.
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Ruben & Lefty
Chris Arnade (who took the above photo) writes:
Rubin called me this week and told me I had to come up and see something amazing. One of his pigeons had given birth to a baby with only one wing. Both Rubin and Vinny, life-long pigeon keepers, had never seen anything like it in over 40 years of flying and breeding pigeons.
They let me know that they were going to do everything they could to make sure the pigeon stayed healthy and safe. When the mothers start trying to push the babies out of the nest (in a few weeks) they will transfer this one to a special cage they built. They still haven’t come up with a name yet, although they are leaning towards “Lefty.” I suggested “Wingy” or “Uno,” but they are welcoming other suggestions.
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Shy
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
Shy, 46, born and raised in the projects of East New York, fell in love with pigeons when he was six. “I was always watching them. I got sent to a camp one summer and spent most of the time watching the birds.” In his late teens he got into drugs, dealing and smoking crack. It ended with eleven years in jail for manslaughter, the result of a deal gone bad. He was released in 99 and has been clean since. “Jail changed me. I saw guys in there who ain’t ever coming out. Ever.”
Now he does some odd construction jobs, spending most of his free time on the roof of an abandoned building where he keeps his birds. “I got no need for attitude anymore, thats all gone. I am just happy sitting up here tending to my birds. I aint got much else, but when I am up here I can be happy and hope something better comes the next day.”
When I asked him how he wanted to be described he said “Simple and humble. Didn’t used to be, and it landed me in lots of trouble. Now I am content.”
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part I: Brother
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
Brother owns Bodegas, multiple apartments, and many top flight pigeons. He also has the first in-apartment coop I have seen; a specially constructed sealed room filled with birds who come and go through vents in the windows.
Brother, funny, charismatic and smart, went out of his way to show me around, a gracious host. I struggled to capture the scene, a stark but yet well lived in apartment with a pool table, scattered liquor bottles and a massive sealed room filled with prized pigeons.
NYS Flickr Pool
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