Month: July 2020

In this photo journal assignment, I would like to focus on how are NYC restaurants going adapt with the new norm.

How are restaurants managing to maintain the most used areas or surfaces disinfected?

How safe is it for people to dine in?

Are all restaurants following the 6 feet distance guidelines?

How does the staff feel to be back? Are they happy to be back? Unhappy?

Are restaurants posting signs and messages to remind people to follow the guidelines and stop the spread?

 

New York city phase 2 of the reopening allowed restaurants to move onto outdoor dining, many have relied on sidewalk space to accommodate customers and keep them at a safe distance. Customer accommodation and usage of space by a restaurant will be the focus of the photo essay, several of my neighborhood restaurants are using creative methods to attract customers such as placing outdoor decorations. Some of the visuals I anticipate are how workers are behaving around customers and if customers are following the social distancing rules as they socialize.

The ongoing pandemic has caused many local businesses to permanently close down so a story on a restaurant trying to stay in business is not only relevant but interesting as they improvise.

For my photojournalism assignment I want to look at how the coronavirus outbreak has affected social activities, despite reopening efforts. I feel like this topic is prevalent since we’re in the midst of this pandemic, and everyone in the world has been affected one way or another. Since I’m from Elmhurst, Queens, a place that was a hotbed for the virus just months earlier, I thought it would be interesting to see how those in the area have adjusted since the lockdown. I know with the gyms closing down and have yet to re-open, many fitness enthusiasts are finding adjustment in order to stay in shape. Sports like basketball and soccer have also taken a hit since most recreation centers are closed, and outdoor fields and basketball courts have been made less accessible (goal posts, taken down).

The visuals I’m anticipating include soccer fields with the goal posts taken down, people playing basketball in masks, closed gyms recreation centers, as well as people social distancing. I’m hoping that these visuals will emphasize how despite re-opening efforts, we are still very much affected by this pandemic and it may be a while until normal life resumes.

My idea is to see how Covid-19 affected public sports. I had an idea of going park to park to see what sport is being played and how it is being played. Are people avoiding contact?  How has Covid-19 effecting public sports in New York City

Photo Pitch:

Since early February, I’ve been staying in my family’s home in Wilkes-Barre, PA where I had to withdraw from my Spring semester at Baruch to help my mother find legal counsel for my father and uncle, who were detained by ICE and imprisoned awaiting trials for deportation. They both worked together at our family car repair shop, and although my father was able to come home after three months of detainment, my uncle was deported back to the Dominican Republic. Our family business is depended on by our fellow neighbors and locals and being considered an essential business, my father was eager to reopen, despite a pending hearing in December that will determine whether he is both eligible for immigration relief and able to remain in the country. Despite not being a mechanic, or even knowing how to drive, I’ve taken on my uncle’s role as assistant at the shop.

I want to take the opportunity I’ve had to observe my father in his natural element to take photographs of what a day of work looks like for him, a family man who has lived in the United States for over twenty five years, who has been legally married to my mother for 15 years, who has raised me and my sisters here, and who is an essential worker to so many people in our local township. Despite his tireless efforts to provide for our family and his clients, he may not be able to stay in the country come winter. He works himself to the bone, likes he’s running out of time, which is unfortunately true if things don’t go as planned. I think I’d be able to capture great photographs, since I spend most of the day following him around and seeing the work he accomplishes as well as what his workspace looks like. I think I can find great pattern photos, as well as photos with nice use of color. I don’t have any real camera equipment but I have an iPhone 11 camera, and I’ve taken decent pictures with it so far, I think it will be good enough for the assignment.

For my photojournalism assignment, I want to explore the impact COVID-19 has on local retail shops. As NYC works towards envisioning a new “normal”, businesses are facing new challenges. Many local businesses have been affected, some even going out of business. I want to examine how those that are still open, or reopening, are coping with the new social distancing restrictions and regulations.

For this assignment I will be focusing specifically on a local neighborhood shoe store in Brooklyn called Windsor Shoes. I will focus on how they are dealing with the competition from e-commerce moguls like Amazon, as well as those who do not feel safe enough to shop inside the store, but still wish to support their business. I also want to figure out what the business envisions their future looking like, as well as how their employees are coping with everything going on.

I plan on taking pictures of the customers coming in with their masks on, how employees handle and take care of the employees with the new guidelines, I also want to try to capture the mood and feelings of the employees during these difficult times.

 

So I have a few ideas:

My first one is about a small business taking photos of how they are handling the virus. I would show the new precautions they’ve introduced and how they have tried to keep people safe.

The second one is a candlelight service for Vanessa Guillen, I will show how a crowd of people try and protect themselves while paying their service to Mrs. Guillen.

The last is a Long Island March for Justice, according to the information I’ve seen the leaders of this march are demanding people to wear masks and take safety precautions. So it’d be interesting comparing and contrasting what we see in the mainstream media compared to this smaller scale protest.

Pitch Workshop

Discuss, brainstorm, workshop story ideas for photo essays.

Photo Scavenger Hunt:

We’ll look at photos together from your in-class assignment. You’ll also use these for some practice photo editing and using Exposure.

Once you’ve finished, you can send what you think are your best 5 images to me using wetransfer.com.

Reminder:

On Monday, we will NOT be holding a formal class on Zoom; instead, that day will be devoted to reporting/production/editing. I will, however, make myself available all day on Monday for anyone who wants feedback and one-on-one coaching/editor feedback. I strongly encourage you all to try and get most of your photos and reporting done over the weekend so you can take advantage of this. If you want to schedule a Zoom session that day, please shoot me an email or text sometime between now and then.

Photo essays will be due by class time next Wednesday, July 22.

New York, New normal

For my photojournalism assignment, I want to explore the changing circumstances in New York. What used to be the city that never sleeps has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 and retreated indoors for everyone’s safety. Now as it’s waking back up, New Yorkers are navigating a new normal. 

People are slowly reentering the outdoors but not without a mask. The subways have resumed regular service but still feel hollow. Department stores are open but someone will point a temperature gun at your head. We resist the idea of a brisk walk through the park if other people have the same idea. 

I work in the city near Columbus Circle and was used to the packed train cars and the crowd of people sharing my sidewalk before the sun finished rising. Now when I have to pick up a morning shift I have the train cart to myself, and walk quickly to my job so I don’t have to acknowledge the echoing avenues. 

I want to specifically focus my assignment on the emptiness of mornings in New York. Few people have to make a morning commute, so when New York would normally be thriving by 8am it’s still empty.

New York is slowly recharging but isn’t where it used to be. New York is embracing the New Normal. 

For my photojournalism assignment I would like to do a visual representation of the construction of The New York Islanders new arena in Elmont, NY. The New York Islanders played hockey from 1972-2015 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. Various owners tried to get the arena upgraded but it never led to anything.

in 2015, they were pushed out by local government and had to move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. That really didn’t work out either and wound up splitting time between Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum.

Finally, the Islanders were approved for a new arena in by Belmont Park. For my assignment I would like to go to the construction site and take various pictures, that visually represent this story and show the progress that is ongoing to create this new state of the art arena.