After one month of classes at the International Centre of Photography, students in the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program reflect upon the first few weeks in the best way we know how – through pictures.
Always with the cameras, students sit outside ICP, Grace Plaza/Sara Frisby
Black and White Photography instructor Jay Manis with ICP PJ students in the labs/Sara Frisby
During a rare occurrence of downtime, ICP students hang out in the student lounge/Sara Frisby
Timothy Fadeck presents one of Jim Nachtwey’s images during a weekly Picture Making course/Sara Frisby
We are still here. One month of classes at ICP/Sara Frisby
First month of classes at ICP/Sara Frisby
Weekly picture critique/Sara Frisby
Lab fashion show/Elena Hermosa
ICP PJ contingent representing at the annual W. Eugene Smith awards at SVA/Elena Hermosa
Esteban Kuriel, posing for yet another flash demonstration/Elena Hermosa
Those side-lit Beatles/Shih-Chieh Wei
Story time with Nelson Bakerman/Sara Frisby
Monsters and mayhem in Nelson Bakerman’s flash class/Natasha Srour
PJ students at ICP shoot a variety of different themes for the weekly “Picture Making on the Street” course. This course has students submit a selection of images every week for a group critique lead by each respective instructor.
The Neighborhood, Harlem/Elena Hermosa
The Neighborhood, Bushwick/Alexandra Madden
The Subway/Miguel Winograd
The Neighborhood, Harlem/Elena Hermosa
The Neighborhood, Williamsburg/David Steinberg
Ramon Avelar and his wife Johanna Silva take a moment to rest after finishing their entree sighing and saying “that was so good.New York’s Food/Natasha Srour
PJ students at ICP shoot a variety of different themes for the weekly “Picture Making on the Street” course. This course sees students submitting a selection of images every week for a group critique lead by each respective instructor.
This week’s selection includes images entitled “Signs of the Times”, an assignment for the the foundational course in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in which each student had to make an image that represented the personal, public and political signs of the times.
Grace/Elena Hermosa
Signs of the Times/Esteban Kuriel
Grace/Gareth Smit
Self-Portrait, Signs of the Times/Moth Dust
Signs of the Times/Fabiana Sala
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens,Grace/Narisa Ladak
New York’s Religions/Meskerem Cohen
Your Neighborhood/Khadim Baluch
Your Neighborhood/Khadim Baluch
A woman prays at the Hare Krishna Temple in Brooklyn, NY,New York’s Religions/Natasha Srour
PJ students at ICP shoot a variety of different themes for the weekly “Picture Making on the Street” course. This course sees students submitting a selection of images every week for a group critique lead by each respective instructor.
NYC Subway/Khadim Baluch
Solitude/Andrea Cattaneo
A man smokes a cigar next to a fish stand at New Fulton Fish Market. Water/Barbara Gracner
Man cutting yellowfin tuna at the New Fulton Fish Market. Water/ Barbara Gracner
Solitude/Gareth Smit
NYC Subway/Khadim Baluch
Fairway Market, Red Hook, Brooklyn. Water/Natasha Srour
Edward Castillo and Richard Alvez, Red Hook, Brooklyn. Water/Natasha Srour
Statue of Liberty, on Liberty Island in New York, as seen from Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Last night, I took a call from a woman in California who had been accepted to the International Center of Photography. She was trying to decide whether she should go for it. She asked me, “is it worth it?”
I was in her position exactly one year ago to the day. It was April 12th, 2010, my birthday. At 8am I went to my government job and gave my two-weeks notice. That afternoon, I returned home to the letter from the ICP accepting my application for the 2010-2011 school year. In the evening we had a birthday BBQ in the backyard.
Until that day, the prospect of moving had been mostly theoretical. It was suddenly real. The tuition alone was a lot of money. Moving cities is hard. And I’d have to stop working for a year, too. It was a big choice. Some people said I should take my money and travel the world. Others questioned why I would want to move from Ottawa at all (although they were very few, and only halfheartedly asked). Most people, though, told me to go, if this was what I really wanted. The decision was complicated by having already been to photography school, not that long ago. I graduated from Algonquin College in 2007 with a diploma in commercial photography. It was a good school, highly technical, and demanding. But I always wanted more. I wanted more from life, more from my city. Most of all, I wanted more from myself.
Midtown Manhattan as seen from the Pulaski Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, New York
I said yes. I accepted because I wanted to grow, to move up a level, to be truly tested. I wanted to train with the best, to learn how to tell stories from the leaders in photojournalism and documentary photography. In some ways, it was an easy choice. ICP was the only place I had applied and the only place really wanted to go. I said yes to myself.
Life isn’t easy here. School is definitely not easy. There is a lot I miss about my life back home. I miss my family. But, for all the homesickness and frustration of living in New York, it has been worth it so far.
This year is a gift. It is a dream. It is an incredible privilege to spend a year completely focused on my craft. It is amazing to be surrounded by smart and engaged students. The teachers at ICP who I’ve connected with have made an impact on me that will resonate for the rest of my life. ICP was the push I needed, and the push I didn’t know I needed. I’ve grown as an artist and a human. I’ve really jumped off the deep end.
There are ten weeks left in the school year. I want this freedom to go on forever.
Watch the first fifteen seconds of the video for Rihanna’s song “what’s my name?” (featuring Drake), and you will see an expert bit of visual storytelling. Immediately, place is set: New York City. Inside ten seconds the rest of story is established. Drake is in a “bodega,” or corner store, when he sees Rihanna enter. With some quick cutting the tension of sexual attraction is set up. The rest of the video unfolds from there:
The interesting thing about this video is that it is set in New York but neither Drake nor Rihanna is a native New Yorker. Rihanna is from Barbados, and Drake is from Canada, but their affair (on the screen, at least) is a New York story: hot, immediate, and fun. That passion is what makes New York a great city. It is the new New Yorkers that give the city its vibrancy, its creativity, and its effervescent type of unexpected beauty.
On a technical note, I would wager that this video was made using a Digital SLR that takes hi-def video. See the shallow depth of field slip in and out of focus when the subjects move?
To see what I mean, watch the video with the sound off the first time. The second time, listen to it with the sound cranked.
Always with the cameras, students sit outside ICP, Grace Plaza/Sara Frisby
Black and White Photography instructor Jay Manis with ICP PJ students in the labs/Sara Frisby
During a rare occurrence of downtime, ICP students hang out in the student lounge/Sara Frisby
Timothy Fadeck presents one of Jim Nachtwey’s images during a weekly Picture Making course/Sara Frisby
We are still here. One month of classes at ICP/Sara Frisby
First month of classes at ICP/Sara Frisby
Weekly picture critique/Sara Frisby
ICP PJ contingent representing at the annual W. Eugene Smith awards at SVA/Elena Hermosa
Esteban Kuriel, posing for yet another flash demonstration/Elena Hermosa
Story time with Nelson Bakerman/Sara Frisby
Monsters and mayhem in Nelson Bakerman’s flash class/Natasha Srour
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