Developing Through Photography
Growing up, photography was always my favorite hobby. From Instagram to television, images flash across the screens we watch all day long. When COVID-19 hit the East Coast in March, my screen time went from around 4 hours a day to almost 16. My phone became my life. I would take pictures of everything on my walls, my plate when I cooked something new, or even just how my room looked after I cleaned.The pandemic caused me to look internally and figure out what makes me happy, and I found that was photography.
My photography journey started in 2015 when my family and I went to a soon-to-be-demolished Pep Boys. They allowed graffiti artists to use the walls of the building and show the art until the demolition date. The vivid colors were amazing to capture during my visit there. They sparked something in me that made me gravitate towards taking more and more images. Every picture I took afterwards contained a memory I wanted to hold onto.
One of the places I love to go to clear my head is the beach and during this pandemic I have been able to watch the sunrise while reading poetry.
Memories are often captured in the form of photography because it is an image that can be shared across multiple platforms. When I started my photography Instagram (@capturesoflife_), I found that sharing images brought joy to others who could not experience the places I traveled to. In one of my other pieces I wrote about what it was like to travel through the United States during the pandemic. I was able to document that experience in a more immersive, visual way through photography. Those images allowed me to share the things I saw with the world in a way I couldn’t have done with words alone.
The Stack Pancake & Steak House in North Arlington, NJ, has outdoor dining that I love to partake in with my close friend Adrian.
My photography evolved when quarantine began. Before, I was taking pictures of the outside world and my surroundings mindlessly. When the pandemic reached New Jersey, I began taking pictures of tiny things I had not realized mattered so much to me, like the ice cream I enjoyed eating with my friends, sitting at a safe distance and talking about the new form of life. Photographing food was interesting because when I was still in college, I would usually eat just one or two meals a day. After adjusting to being home, I started to cook more and try new recipes with my sister. Cooking, along with my other old hobbies, came back to me like second nature. I picked up sewing again and created a blanket with many of my old Rutgers shirts. Taking pictures of those moments helped me document what was going on in my world so that I will always be able to revisit these unprecedented times.
When May rolled around, I had to return my DSLR camera to the Journalism department at Rutgers. At first I felt lost because I based my photography skills on the camera I was using. I turned back to my iphone 7 and continued to take the same type of pictures. As the pandemic continued and got worse, I began rethinking my career path and choices. When I started writing for online publication, I was given a polaroid by my best friend. With that, I started taking pictures of my tiny moments rather than using my phone. Seeing things through such a small viewfinder made me rethink the way I portray images.
Recently, my aunts surprised me with a Nikon camera as a graduation present. I started experimenting with faceless photography to try to challenge my creativity. I hit a mental roadblock post-graduation, especially with my photography, because I felt inadequate compared to some of my peers. Eventually, though, I realized that each person has their own path, a truth I’m still working to internalize.
Using my new Nikon, I began taking faceless photography of my sister using paint and a mirror to experiment with shadows. This is a technique I wanted to learn in order to think outside the box when documenting stories.
When I received my polaroid in August, I went to Overpeck Park in Leonia NJ to take some photos of the scenery.
Photography morphed from a hobby into a source of independence and freedom. It helped me navigate the new world with an open mind and allowed me to realize that majoring in Journalism opened the door to a new version of myself. Those first steps after graduating were very difficult, especially when rejection emails came in from companies I wanted to work at. Getting back into photography and learning how to navigate the new world allowed me to grow as a person.