Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Adrianna Grezak
Occupation: Photographer, Photo Editor
Location: 4th Street and 2nd Avenue
Time: Tuesday, Jan. 13

I emigrated from Poland when I was seven and I grew up in a town in northern New Jersey that was a majority Polish immigrants. I emigrated in the 1990s, when people were still coming over here.

This is the only Polish stereotype that’s true for my family – my father’s in construction and my mother’s a cleaning lady who started her own cleaning service. That’s always been inspirational to me, watching someone start their own business from scratch in a new country, like both my parents.

I moved to New York City in 2007 to attend NYU. I studied anthropology. Well, I studied a bunch of things like every other kid interested in human thought. I started off with psychology and then I realized that there were other fields that covered that, so I switched over to anthro.

I was at NYU through 2011. The recession was an interesting time to be in New York City, watching all these businesses close and get replaced by Starbucks and 7-Elevens. I like supporting small independent businesses, especially since they’re disappearing. Especially the immigrant thing, because I’m a little biased. If I notice that it’s run by immigrants, then I’ll go there. And attending NYU, this was before the recession hit, the students were kind of going crazy, not worrying about finances, whereas a year later that’s what the conversation was about. All of a sudden every student was very aware with what was going on in the economy and how that affected them directly.

I’m really lucky to live in the East Village ... I rent a room from someone who bought her apartment in the 1980s. NYU dorms weren’t for me because I’m a quiet person and I wasn’t really into the scene. She’s a professor at a different school and she posted a listing as an NYU off-campus housing that nobody really used, which is why I found it.

It’s funny that I told her, ‘Yeah this is great for the two years that I’m in college.’ Three years after that and I’m still here. I’m not leaving. We get along great. It’s a true two bedroom with a dining room and a living room. People say, ‘Oh you live with somebody from a different generation from you.’ But it has brick walls and we don’t hear each other. You don’t see these apartments anymore. It’s a true old-school apartment.

When I graduated my first job was actually connected to anthropology ... working in publishing. I left the publishing job in 2012 [to pursue photography], and especially then everyone was saying, ‘It’s really hard. You’re not going to be able to do it.’ I think back to my mom’s personal story, being an immigrant. She was able to create her own business. I guess I wouldn’t take no for an answer. Yeah, I had a lot of anxiety about it. It’s something I love to do regardless of whether I’m paid for it, so that helps.

I started off by exploring different avenues in photography and what is good now about all these different technologies is that e-commerce is a giant thing and that’s how I got my foot in the door beyond doing some gigs with portraits. I started off doing fashion photography and product photography for different consignment stores. I worked for INA NYC.

That job helped me get my current job. My title is production specialist, but it’s kind of a photo-editor job at a company called 1stdibs, which is actually in that new building on Astor Place — the Jeff Koons building. 1stdibs is an online marketplace and their tagline is ‘The Most Beautiful Things on Earth.’ It’s tables, antiques, fashion.

I saw the building being built and obviously there are a lot of negatives about it being built there. I think a lot about how the East Village has changed, but on the flip side it took me awhile to get long-term employment and [this] helped me. There are two sides of every coin. The fact that all these new businesses are coming in, it’s personally helped me, whereas I also completely agree and see the negatives of it.

In some ways I guess [studying anthropology] connects to my interests in photography. It was always something that I did, kind of an impulse to take photographs. I’ve done it with disposable cameras before digital cameras were a thing.

I’m interested in people’s diverse experiences and that’s what I try to do with my photography. I’ve been drawn to demonstrations. I’ve photographed them for a few years. My first one that I really set out to capture was the New York City Postal Service rally, where I snuck my way in the press pit. It helps that I’m a tiny girl who no one really pays attention to.

The goal of my new project at On Second Avenue is to show people different sides of New York City ... especially as an immigrant, even though I’ve been here for almost 20 years and now that I’m living my white-collar life. But I grew up working class, and I still kind of feel like an outsider. That’s one of the reasons I love living in the East Village because it’s so diverse. You hear all different kinds of languages here.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.