Root Brooklyn, NYC

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

It’s safe to say that 99 percent of the young people attending Root Studio’s opening blowout weren’t even a gleam in their parents’ eyes in 1943, the year the novel by the same name was published. Authored by Betty Smith, it described a family struggling against poverty in the Williamsburg section of the borough in the early 20th century. It was later adapted to film by Elia Kazan.

Williamsburg has gone through profound historical changes, as has most of New York, but the latest from a photographer’s point of view is that many buildings, storefront and factories, long moribund, are being renovated and turned into various resources for the photographer. At 131 N. 14th St. the new 20,000 square foot Root Brooklyn recently opened its doors with a flourish, despite the news that pop icon Michael Jackson had passed away. Co-owners Isaac Litchfield and Oleh Sharanevyxch really know how to entertain.

To say the party was a smash success would be an understatement of epic proportions. Each of the five shooting spaces was packed with wall-to-wall glamorous people from all directions in the photo biz. Photographers, publishers, picture editors, photo assistants, models, digital techs, in short anybody who was anybody was there. A gorgeous ice sculpture of the studio’s name melted slowly, as if marking time into the wee hours.

Profoto demonstrated the awesome capabilities of its Pro-8a Air generator. Cliff Hausner and crew had worked for three days building a beautiful set: A Brooklyn brownstone in the 1940’s, with a tree and its roots, of course. A swing hung from one of the branches and hordes of smiling, laughing and even screeching people submitted themselves to the Pro-8’s awesome 20 fps capacity. Sony was on hand to make prints and the smiles grew even wider when folks saw what 12,000th of a second stopping power could do.

In an interview for “Profoto News,” Root General Manager Kip McQueen pointed out that around the world, photographers and assistants have depended on Profoto gear, and that the latest and greatest pack, the Pro-8 Air, was beyond anyone’s expectations.

“If someone needs something new,” he said, “Profoto is usually there, ahead of the curve. The Pro-8 Air is a good example of that. Our clients love it!”

Or as photographer Jackie Roman said, “Profoto? I wouldn’t feel comfortable using anything else.”

As we left, near 11:30, there was still a line down the block of people waiting to get in. Was it the free beer and wine? Of course not, dude. It was people wanting to get blasted by the awesome, consistent, powerful Pro-8 Air. And not even getting warm (the pack that is, the people were sweating like they were in a sauna). Rock on!

See all the photos in our Flickr set.