Maspeth is America, Pete Slusarski

Pete,
I really enjoyed seeing the finished product of your project.The book looks great. The hardcover, standard landscape format worked for your photographs, and the photographic paper really showed them off well. With the 5 x 7 size of each photo, you did not lose any detail, but I wondered how they might have looked if printed larger on the page (especially with more expansive scenes, such as the coke trucks in the parking lot). My only other hesitation was about the dedication page, which seemed to interrupt the beginning of the series. Otherwise, the two single photographs in the middle and the solitary ending photo served as nice breathing points.

As we talked about sometimes in class, it was impossible for you to "photograph Maspeth" or represent it in its entirety, but you really gave the viewer a wide ranging glimpse of this town, including street scenes, backyards, storefronts and interiors, homes, residents, and even pets (the black dog is one of my personal favorites!). Through these images, one can clearly see a strong control of the frame, a symmetry, and deliberate sense of order in your style of shooting.
I know you were also concerned about portraying Maspeth as an ugly place or in some negative light, but I think you accomplished quite the opposite. There is a distinctly quiet, eery beauty in your photographs, whether it appears in the setting sunlight on an old gas station, an empty house filled with balloons, or a garage adorned with lucky horseshoes paired with a dark hearse. Your book allows the viewer to explore Maspeth, as you did while photographing, and to get an intimate sense of how life is lived in this place.
You can be very proud of this body of work. Good luck to you and fellow photographers, and thanks for a great class this semester!