Washington Heights Streets

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

USA | Tuesday, December 4, 2012 | 4 photos

Photography is a way for me to feel like I belong in a strange place. Candid photography, whether travel, documentary, or street, demands a photographer at ease--ease being something I'm not always able to project in everyday situations. But I do find it behind a viewfinder; sometimes even peace.

I made my narrative about Washington Heights (my neighborhood in New York City) because I'd felt uneasy there after returning from college in California six months ago. The streets didn't seem to be for me and I hated that I only liked the place for its proximity to downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. The camera gave me a purpose there and allowed me to own those streets as much as a vendor; or a long-time resident; or a child who doesn't know anyplace else.

I really would like to train this vision and exercise such ease in different places, especially one as far away as Oman. I look forward to gaining more technical knowledge that would allow me to work more quickly while gaining more control over my images (I've mostly shot automatic). My ultimate goal is to master a sort of idiosyncratic composition, to be able to see and compose people scenery as objects--but not treat them as such.