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.