Rachel Rodriguez – Photo Essay Pitch

For my photo essay I plan on attending the 2017 Peace Lanterns Festival taking place on Saturday, September 16 in Gantry Plaza State Park. The event is hosted by HarborLab and The Buddhist Council of New York to celebrate the UN International Day of Peace. It is an event for all cultures and religions to enjoy consisting of a day full of different activities such as meditation, yoga, painting, dance, kayaking, and of course creating and setting afloat the paper lanterns. The purpose of this event is to unite as a community and promote peace. There is no special access needed for this event as it is open to the public. I think this event focused unity and peace is much needed considering the all the violent events and general aggression occurring not only in our country, but around the world. I hope to express this using photographs of the different activities and all the different groups of people. Of course I will also capture the lit lanterns on the water at night. This event relies heavily on volunteers that I will interview, as well as speakers, to understand what the event means to them.