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The millennial generation has pushed the envelope of self employed work and entrepreneurship. Though we understand the significance and potential of a degree in higher education, we allow our passions to transcend societies definition of  success. During my time at Baruch, I’ve met dynamic individuals that graduated but pursued aspirations that render their degrees useless. For my photo essay, I will be focusing on one particular friend, Fatima Daniels, a 22 year old Baruch Alumni who opened her own salon in Queens, NY. My goal is capture her story of navigating the hardships of being a business owner at such a young age and enlighten my audience of the success that can prevail when one chases their dreams.

Earlier today, a rally was held on the 23rd Street plaza that called for the New York State government and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to fund CUNY and stop the yearly tuition hikes. I was able to attend this rally in full with my camera and voice recorder, and I think it is an excellent subject for this first assignment.

The photos I took (over 200, but I will choose the best 20) showed the passion of protesters — which included students, faculty members, assemblymembers, and alums of various CUNYs — and I was able to get some quotes from both speakers and the general public. This is a very important topic in the news right now, as both CUNY and SUNY schools are calling upon their elected officials to provide either free public college or an affordable education to those who need it the most. This is especially current because of the most recent tuition hike that was passed by the CUNY Board of Trustees, and not enough people are fully aware about what is going on in their school. This is also a personal issue that affects each student who goes to Baruch, so I think doing a story on it is essential.

The event I will be selecting for my photo essay is the Thirty-Fifth Annual New York Sword Dance Festival in New York City. It is a two-day event that will feature 12 teams from across the country. The event is a free event open to all and takes place February 15th and 16th in various different locations. I expect to take action shots of the different sword dances and focus on the dress wear of the dancers as these performances are a part of English tradition. The event should provide visually appealing pictures.

For my photo essay pitch I would like to cover the Chinese New Year  Parade on February 9, 2020 in Chinatown from 1-4PM. I believe the parade will allow me to take amazing photographs that represents Chinese culture and show people what Chinese New Year is about. Every year the parade attracts thousands of people all over NYC, either spectators or participants. The parade will have dragon dances, firework displays, stunning visuals, and festivities from Little Italy to Canal Street.

For my photo essay, I am thinking of taking pictures of how people sleep. In different ages, different sleeping habits and different cultures, sleeping may reveal intimate things about those people, from a homeless to a couple, from a student in the lab to a man sleep on the subway, I think this series may tell a lot more about how the world was constructed diversified, and how the others’ life is. The problem might be the interview and the names since I can think of the difficulties to ask a person some questions while he or she is sleeping.

For my photo essay,  I wanted to focus on a Gurdwara in my neighborhood, specifically on the practice of serving free food that takes place every day.  I have access to the story as it is a place within my community that I have been to before. I want to document the members of the temple who work and serve food to visitors, and the reasons why the practice is important to their personal faith and life. I also hope to document some of the people who come to the temple for meals, and their reasons for doing so. Overall, I want to be able to capture the relationship that the Gurdwara and its members has with its community, and the impact service and generosity has on a frequently misunderstood community.

It can be difficult trying to find a balance between school and outside life, and trying to be mentally stable. It takes some people to come to the realization that they just need to take a step back and look at life through a different lense- this may also mean focusing their energy and attention on things that make them mentally sane. I will be photographing a current student, who is taking a gap year, focusing on an activity that she is passionate about- dancing. It will be interesting to see how her typical days layout and the people that she surrounds herself with during this time. I am able to have the opportunity to create a human interest story because I know this person and they are willing to allow me to document them.

Richmond Hill Neighborhood in Queen, has the highest Sikh Population. I choose to take Sikh Community into picture because I used to be work with a non-profit organization and as volunteer I went to Sikh Temple and collect some health survey from Sikh Seniors and tried to help them out if need any assistance. So, based on the experienced that I had, I decided to choose my Photo Essay topic that covers the different aspects on Sikh community of NYC and what are the problems and challenges they are facing. Especially I will try to cover the what are the challenges of undocumented and illegal immigrants of Sikh community of NYC.

For my photo essay I have a few ideas (These are in no order):

Hands-On Workshop: Using your DSLR camera

• Turning it on and off
• Where to find the memory card and battery
• Image size (large)
• How to adjust ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and white balance
• Focusing the lens by tapping the shutter (auto) and manually

In-Class Assignment: Photo Scavenger Hunt

Take one of the school cameras and pair up in teams of two or three. Go out within a reasonable radius of campus and start taking photos, looking for at least 10 strongly-composed images that capture some of the following elements of composition (some of these will inevitably contain multiple elements, and that’s fine—ideal, even). Please make sure everyone in the group gets  roughly equal time with the camera.

Contrasting colors
Monochromatic colors
Symmetry
Pattern
Rule of thirds
Close-up detail shot
Shallow depth of field
Portrait
Dramatic/beautiful/interesting use of light
Slow shutter speed
Internal framing
Movement
Decisive moment
Layers telling a story
Unusual perspective

Make sure you leave enough time to come back and load the photos onto your computer and pack up the cameras by the end of class time; we’ll work on editing the images in Lightroom at a later date. I recommend also saving them in the cloud or sending them to yourself via WeTransfer (which expires after about a week!) or email.

Remember that your pitches for your photo essays are due the day after tomorrow, on Thursday Feb. 6!