As Staff Photographer for New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 1989 to 2011, I documented vacant land and distressed properties throughout the five boroughs, most frequently in neighborhoods hit hardest by the housing crisis of the 1970s. I found 'evidence' of the 'city game' everywhere I went, from Tottenville in Staten Island to Wakefield in the Bronx, from West Harlem to East New York, Brooklyn. I came to love the stark beauty of net-less rims and home made hoops nailed to trees and plastic milk crates with their bottoms cut out tied to fences and fire escape ladders, often adjacent to spray-painted memorial (RIP) walls. After a while I realized that I had found a visually and culturally worthwhile project and started printing these images. I also began photographing more seriously, sometimes taking notes and returning on the weekend with my panoramic camera. I make 20 x 60 inch prints from these 2 ¼ x 6 ¾ inch negatives, and am working on a book of these images.