25th September, I woke up excited like a kid buying his first pair of sneakers. In fact I was about to buy my first real Fish-eye lens for my Canon camera. Why this lens in particular ? Because I grew up watching skateboarding videos where the fisheye is a religion. A few basketball photographers are using it, to me it’s the best lens to capture action in the paint and dunks of course. So I went to B&H megastore, always funny to see all those jewish people selling high tech and handling lots of cash. I did a first stop near the Madison, maybe not the most beautiful building but I just needed to try my new toy.

This was a cold thursday, I waited for Romain and after my first chicken roll in Sbarro we moved up to Goat Park on 99th St. and Amsterdam Ave.

Bobbito invited us to his “Anytime Anyday, work-out/open run”. Once on the spot we saw Bobbito, Andre & Ramon Perez doing a pass & shoot exercise. The ballers arrived one by one, first Bang Lee, Jimmy burke and later a Bounce contributor Geroy Grant. We played 3 on 3 games, I was with Ramon and Bang and after loosing a couple of games against Bobbito’s squad we succeeded to win some battles thanks to Ramon’s accuracy around the paint. A tall kid arrived, a lazy copy of Mike Beasley, he joined Bobbito’s team and started to guard me. Bobbito shout “ Kev, you’re in trouble”. Unfortunately for him this kid arrived at the wrong time, I was starting to get hot. I crossed him several times, put some threes & lay-ups on his nose and we ended up this session winning the last games.

We spoke a little bit with Geroy who friendly drive us up to Spanish Harlem, I took a shower quickly and we went down to Times Square for a special night session. Of course we did some shopping but we took many pictures like this funny one of the Vitamin Water advertising, CP3,Kobe,Dwight, Lebron & Deron in various advertising.

On the 26th September we headed to Fulton Street in Brooklyn, always fun to see those “Jewels-sneakers-cellphones-hairs-records” stores selling fake New Era or overpriced sneakers. We had a plan for the night, my boy Sami Ameziane was doing a stand up comedy show , Joe Franklin’s Comedy Club at Charley - O’s on 8th ave. & 45th street. Sami is a serious baller, besides playing in France and winning the QUAI 54 in 2006, he played in Uconn basketball team with talented NBA’ers like Charlie Villanueva, Josh Boone, Rudy Gay, Marcus Williams…As a french teacher in Connecticut he learned about the United States system and turned all his lessons into a comic show where he’s opposing European, mainly French & U.S culture. Right now, Sami is trying to live his American Dream, performing his show in Paris & New York’s famous comedy clubs, you can check a preview of his documentary :

We did a break of 2 days in our bball addiction, and on the 28th Bobbito asked me to play with the Bounce Squad on the Sunday Basketball League. We played in Park West High School gym on the 5th floor. Bobbito, Bang, Shu,Andre, Matthew and I, were playing against the N°1 that night. Unfortunately I didn’t succeed to play as I wanted to, my basketball short was too big and had no lace to tie it so it was falling down on each of my moves. Anyway we lost on the second period, they went too physical for the exhausted people we were.

On the 29th, I bought a new flash for my camera so it was time to test it. Romain and I went in Greenpoint, on a nice playground to do some night shots & portraits.

to be continued…

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After our Columbus playground sessions, we went up on Lafayette Street to eat breakfast and taste again Eileen Cheesecakes , New York City’s best. Then, Times Square to meet a hometown friend who was in NYC at the same time. It was around 5 pm and we hadn’t played ball yet.

Back in 2004, I went lucky to get in touch with Bobbito. He always helps me to find a run, to see games, to live my passion and explore NYC. On this 23rd September he told me he had a Basketball City league game in Trevor Day school on 87th St. off Central Park West, unfortunately the rosters were fixed so we couldn’t play. We watched Kool Bob Love doing his thing, he made 6 of his 7 threes in the first half and finished with 25 points. His young intern Andre Johnson was on the opposing team, the kid is quick, not afraid to drive in the paint and can kill you with his special crossover. That happened to Bobbito as he was guarding the 17 years old fella, however the mentor rarely misses an opportunity to teach Andre a new bball lesson. Bobbito’s squad won the game by 15 points, a good performance considering the level, some former D1 & overseas players usually compete in this winter league.

It was a real frustration to sit in the stands watching the game. Each time that happens, my legs shakes and my blood boils. Whether it’s a pro or amateur game, I always want to be on the court. My only medicine to cure that ballin’ addiction is doing photography, thanks to the satisfaction of capturing a good move in the right timing. Tuesday 23rd was, against our will, a day-off. Finding a game is not always easy, even in the Mecca of basketball.

24th of September, fifth day in New York and I’ve resisted to shopping temptation…till this Wednesday morning. We chilled a little bit in Lower Manhattan to see some cool stores like Dave’s Quality Meat, Alife Rivington Club, Flight Club, The Reed Space, Classikicks, Transit, Michael K…it was just a check-up tour but all those colorways of sneakers turned down my brain and lead me to this question: Are we condemned in Europe to wear only black, white & grey sneakers ?

It was time to make a break, so we stopped on a playground on Houston St. & Chrystie St. . I came there on July 2007, and I bugged because a year after, the court was freshly painted and the old metallic boards replaced by plexiglas. It’s incredible to see how New York City is taking care of its green areas, providing clean places for the kids, families, sports addicts, it’s a real showcase for the tourists. Anyway, kids were playing 5 on 5 games and we started to shoot when dustmen, with old-timers moves joined us. It seems that each New Yorker has a basketball D.N.A.

Fed up of being just spectators, we had to plan a basketball session, luckily one of Romain’s friend was a student in New York University, so we got access to the gym on 14th St. , just 100 meters far from Union Square. I entered in the locker and it was like Zack Morris’ spirit from “saved by the bell” sitcom was haunting the place ! It was so clean, and everything was in there : weigh-scale, dryer, shower gel, towel dryer and of course dozen of lockers. We followed the gym path, long corridors with “All America” diplomas on the wall, and after a few stairs we arrived in the basement.

A pool, a fitness room, and the most beautiful basketball court I ever played on ; vanished hardwood with purple/black paint and the NYU logo in the center - http://www.nyu.edu/athletics/palladium/maingym.php .

I played full court with some students, it took around one hour to be really hot, but from 9 pm till midnight I burned my sneakers on this crazy basketball court. I was guarding a tall Iranian guy, he was quite good but I succeeded to stop his offensive moves and showed him my French secret, the first step dropping tons of lay-ups and jumps shots on his face.

I felt I could play all night long and this question came again to my mind, why not trying to study in the States before I get too old…?

To be continued…

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Monday, 22th of September, our first week in New York is starting. Romain found a place to sleep in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and me in Spanish Harlem. It was hard to be really synchronized everyday because we were on two different areas.

Our first day of chilling started at Union Square, and went upper town. We didn’t have any bball games planned or any open gym session so we decided to walk and search for the bball court in Central Park. After a few minutes, we found that ” Great Lawn Playground”. Two full courts on a green concrete, low rims, nets, half circled boards and this plate on the ground : ” Foot locker and Nike basketball court”. Some kids were playing, we just started to shoot, two kids joined us and as usual I took some pictures.

Grey clouds were above our heads, there was no real competition, luckily I got a call from k1x boy Stephan who invited us to play in Fordham University in the Bronx. So we took the 4 train to Fordham road and succeeded to catch a bus that dropped us in front of the campus. We entered Fordham Univ. and it was like a college movie, lots of student houses, a library, guards, big baseball, football, softball fields…When you’re European , you can only understand why American are good at sports considering the infrastructures provided to the students. We got access to the basketball gym for 8 $ per person, it was great, 3 basketball courts surrounded by a running track with an open door to the outside fields. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of players, some young students and a Fordham player training with his ballboy. We played a few games with the students , it was a little bit dirty, they weren’t confirmed ballers so in this situation it’s hard to play pure basketball. Anyway the session was good, it was our American Pie night in the Bronx, I left the spot with this weird feeling of sorrow on my basketball career and this question why I didn’t come in U.S university when I was young ? …it’s obvious I’m tired , I need to sleep to forget those stupid ideas.

I woke up on Tuesday 23rd with a new appointment on Sprint St. & Broadway corner. We wanted to visit some stores on Canal Street . We chilled in this Chinatown area and felt on Columbus Park. Eight ballers were active on the courts, we stopped to watch the games, It was fun because they all had that ” I do bench press” style. They were all smaller than 5′9 inches, with thin legs, but wide chest and arms. Despite their over-developped body, some of them were good ballers, surprisingly the one feeding his team’s scoring was playing in jeans and Timberland boots. On the other hoop, a guy stopped to practice, he wasn’t a regular baller, he seemed to be a worker doing his noon break, he was here on the basketball court working on his lay-ups , in New York : The Basketball City

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20th September 2008, Here I am, landing in JFK for the third time of my life. Same spot, the Mecca of basketball: New York City and of course the same excitement to put my sneakers on this legendary asphalt.



One month before I was already sending some emails to the few people I know in the big apple, it’s always a mission to find a place to be lodged because you don’t want to annoy working people for 2 weeks. So I found a guest House in Spanish Harlem held by a Puerto Rican lady on Lexington & 128th st , I succeeded to get a room with a single bed, fridge and TV for 40 $ per night. I travelled with my boy Romain from Paris, a tall and skinny baller with some crazy moves. He lived in NYC 2 years and came back in France in 2001 with some Freestyle tricks in his game; he was a pioneer in Paris.

As usual I caught a cold in the plane, and after a first bad night, my trip really started on Sunday afternoon at West 4th.
So we first stopped around The Cage to watch the games and it was real dirty, lots of trash-talking, lots of missiles destroying the backboard and a few people around the fence links. So we started to shoot on the right side hoop, after a few minutes we obviously got drafted to play next. It was my first game in The Cage, I played well hitting some jump shots and lay-ups. We won all our games and I started to realise I was in West 4th when I saw more and more people behind the fence. It was a good sensation, especially when we did the best action on a fastbreak, Romain took a defensive rebound and threw a long, low and lifted pass in my direction, a guy tried to steal it but the bounce effect changed the path of the ball so it arrives directly in my hands for the easy lay-up. We got our West 4th highlight! And you know what, Smush saw it!

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Twenty vs. Steed, originally uploaded by Asphalt Chronicles.

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