For the Photoville assignment, I attended a zoom exhibit called “Looking Inward” it was a part of a three-part Youth Artist Exchange initiative that served to highlight the talents of young middle and high-school-aged photographers who were tasked with “creating intimate images that communicate personal identity and illustrate relationships to loved ones and to home.” We heard from four student photographers and three New York Times editors who fulfilled the prompt.
Destinee Marcion, who was one of the high school photographers, is on track to complete a film degree at her school. She noted the differences in filmmaking and photography and the challenges that arose for her when attempting to complete her photo project. Something interesting that I thought Marcion pointed out was the amount of planning that is required in both mediums. For her film requires a lot more time to think of ideas, photography is inherent more on natural instinct. Photos have the added pressure of getting any feelings or emotions right away. These thoughts were reflected in some of the photos that she took for this exhibit. With the main subject being her mother, one of the most stunning photos showcased her mother shrouded in darkness with a single light beaming on her solemn face. A quiet moment that had the potential of being lost if Marcion had waited for a second or two to snap the photo.
The NYTimes editors Nakyung Han, Jolie Ruben, and Ricardo Nagaoka, presented a project called, “Keeping Love Close” which was a photo assignment done in response to the rise in Asian hate crimes across the country. The editors wanted a chance to tackle this complicated topic in a way beyond the metro section in the newspaper. The prompt gave NYTimes photographers the chance to look inward in Asian communities and highlight their lives and experiences in a way that as Ricardo Nagaoka put it is “rare to see that in western media.”
Overall I thought the session was a great way to see how different people understand what “looking inward” means to them. For some like Marcion, it’s capturing an intimate moment before it gets away. For others like Nagaoka, it’s the chance to highlight a community that is often rejected from the mainstream construction of love and intimacy.
Jolie Rueben discussing one of the images featured in “Keeping Love Close”