Month: September 2020

For my photo essay, I am planning on covering the owner of Ridgewood Pupusas – a newly opened Salvadoran restaurant. As someone who Central American, I am about this place because it’s so rare to find our cuisine in New York. I intend to document the story of the owner and their journey from fleeing the war in El Salvador back in the 80s to opening their own business. I am particularly interested in showing the details about how they carry their heritage with pride.

For my photo essay, I am interested in covering Bombazo Dance Co., a nonprofit organization that is preserving, advocating and educating Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba. Bomba is a traditional dance and musical style from Puerto Rico with roots in Africa. The dance is described as a connection between the drummer and the dancer.

I would be interested in interviewing people from Bombazo Dance Co. about the historical origins of Bomba. In addition, I would include photos of the dancers wearing the traditional skirt that is accentuated through the dance. I would also feature how the pandemic impacted the organization’s in-person classes and how they have shifted to virtual Bomba lessons.

I have two pitches and I’m not sure which one I like more.

1. The rise of at-home haircuts and hair dye procedures. It seems like almost everyone I know both in person and through social media has been experimenting with their look these days. Even I’ve had my own hair dying disasters and I want to capture people during the act of being their own hairdresser. I wonder would they have dye or cut their hair themselves if there wasn’t corona to keep us at home? Were they just bored or have they’ve always wanted to do it? And do they feel more confident doing their own hair?

2. My grandma used to go to Church on the weekly basis. During the time when she needed to practice her faith the most, churches were closed.  And now I wonder how COVID has impacted Churches since their reopening. I’m interested in investigating how believers have been holding up and has the reopening of their churches helped them?

For my photo essay, i was very limited to many things because of the pandemic so, I’ve deiced to do something that would be safe.  I had this idea of photographing  me and my friend roaming through  a rich neighborhood.

Me and him are both immigrants and our parents came here for us to have a better education and a better future. Like most people, everyone wants to live in a nice neighborhood in a big house with nice cars, etc.

I wanted to photograph one of our dreams which is to live in a nice, safe neighborhood where our family could grow up. I think this would be very interesting because this is something  we really want to accomplish and since that we are immigrants, it was more meaningful.

For my photo essay, I will be focusing on the spectrum of styles present in East and West side Harlem. I would like to give an overview of how an essential part of society is the visual expression of its people and how fashion and beauty plays a major role in the way people convey their thoughts and emotions. I would like to try and capture images of the best non-verbal communication that exists in society. It is interesting to me how people’s clothing can leave an impression on people without even physically saying a word.

Such as the crossing guard woman who accessorizes over her uniform or the teenager who wears too much makeup to show off her personality or the mom who tried out a new braided hairstyle or maybe even your local tennis player who adds his own dazzle to his tennis outfit. I look forward to seeing the many styles of fashion and beauty actually present in the East and West side of Harlem.

For my photo essay I will be focusing on the South Brooklyn communities of Brighton and Sheepshead Bay. I would like to give an overview of the history of this community and discuss the rich nature of the people there while also exposing the blatant hypocrisy that currently exists there with regards to COVID-19 and the BLM Movement. I would like to attempt to capture images of some of the blatant illegal activities that occur on a daily basis and do a deep dive into how this community of refugees from the Soviet Union has turned into such a conservative group of people.

I would like to highlight some of the beliefs of the majority of immigrants in this community, as well as try to depict what it is like to be a progressive young person surrounded by Soviet close-mindedness. I will take pictures of the neighborhood as well as some of the people. I am hoping to try and get some people to do interviews and provide their opinions for this piece.

For my story, I had a lot of different ideas, but the one I settled on that may be the best visually would be covered next weekend. I plan on spending a weekend with my girlfriend for our anniversary, and we will have a city exploration day.

I plan on going with her to different restaurants, site-seeing places, and just traveling around Manhattan and Brooklyn. I hope to tell a story that revolves around love and exploration. So the visuals will feature us in a variety of places, in a variety of styles, from riding Citi bikes at a park to eating at a rooftop restaurant.

I think this story would be an interesting story considering the time we are in right now, under COVID restrictions, has limited not only plenty of human interaction but also for some couples a long time to be apart. Since she will be returning to NY from another state for the first time in months, I hope this story of our reunion, as well as hers with NY, will be a breath of fresh air from the ongoing unrest and sadness in the world, through strong and beautiful images.

The other idea I have also revolves around something taken away from us during COVID. Since social distancing was put in place, many people are limited in their recreational activity with other people outside, for example not being able to play basketball in the park with others in fear of COVID. Since my group of friends and I have all been cleared of COVID testing negative, I think a nice story would also be us reuniting with our pastime and capturing images of us playing ball for the first time in months.

I think this would be an interesting story because again, people have been stuck inside and limited to what they can do outside out of fear and restrictions. This may be a nice break from everyone just being on their phones or watching tv inside all day, and capturing my friends in motion playing the game they love may create some quality photos, both in motion, close up, and have nice lighting from the sun.

I really like both of these ideas, and I’m not sure if one has to be accepted for me to do it. If I had to choose one for the assignment I’d probably choose the reunion/anniversary adventure in NYC just for the variety of possible photos. However, I might end up capturing some pick up basketball games with my friends just for myself for fun.

For my photo essay, I plan to explore the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses in New York. My family’s pizzeria and Italian restaurant have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. I would like to explore and document the specific ways that small businesses, especially family-owned businesses, have had to adapt to the constantly changing circumstances.

From my father wearing a mask more than 12 hours a day to my grandparents not being able to work during regular hours, I would like to photograph my family’s experiences over these past months. Westchester, NY was one of the first COVID hotspots, with my family’s restaurant shutting down during the first few weeks of the pandemic. The ways that small businesses have had to adapt in order to compete with many larger corporations have been crucial over these past few months. I look forward to exploring and documenting the struggles and adaptations that small family businesses have made in order to survive, both literally and figuratively.

For my photo essay I would like to focus on the MTA as a whole. While it might not resonate as the most appealing place in NYC, it used to be the most used means of transportation for New Yorkers before COVID-19, with 5 millions riders every day. Inspired by the project “Platforms” by Natan Dvir, I would like to photograph how the pandemic has impacted the subway and what our stations look like nowadays.

As a foreigner, the way I picture the MTA is almost like a city within the city where many stories used to get together for the time of a ride. However many people are now avoiding trains even though life slowly started again.  I believe capturing various stations and their riders, with different point of focus could be interesting to show how 2020 has changed our approach to public transportation.

For my project, I would like to focus on New Brunswick, NJ. I actually just recently moved here less than a month ago. I think New Brunswick is very vibrant. Because it is part of Rutgers University’s campus, there are a lot of things to do: bars, restaurants, performing arts centers, student centers, greek life, libraries, residencies, etc.

Like many upcoming places, there is an apparent divide between the new, luxury apartments and the older buildings. I think it would be interesting to do my project not just on the differences between new and old, but also COVID-19’s impact for both sides.