Costumes are weird.

Estelle Hanania has a brilliant series of images from Purim she took in one of London’s largest Hasidic communities. I found the work fascinating because I’ve lived in Williamsburg for about 6 years and I still find it nearly impossible not to gawk at the strict religious community plunked smack in the midst of our own silly hipster epicenter – and in my nearly 9 years in New York City I have rarely found myself with the balls to point my camera at a Hasidic person, even one in festive masquerade costume, out of some weird respect for the odd, unspoken division drawn between their lifestyle and mine… in spite of the fact that we’re neighbors all. That and the fact that I personally always feel weird photographing kids, because you never know if their parents will decide you’re some kind of perv and flip out on you.

Anyway, Hanania DID have the balls to photograph these children and this community, and her images are glorious and maybe just slightly peculiar.