The morning after Hurricane Sandy struck, I drove around Staten Island to survey the damage done. I wound up taking several “street photos” of the chaos that was present in Staten Island. In the following days, I heard of people I knew who had suffered from this natural disaster. It was devastating to hear that my friends and family were affected by the storm. By the time school resumed, I had spent a lot time looking for a theme to select for this project but I wasn’t having any luck. Then, one day while sitting in my door room- it hit me. I decided I would do my Street Photography project on Hurricane Sandy, but not just the destruction of it. I would also incorporate how Staten Island has been working together as a community to get through these tough times.
My theme of Hurricane Sandy was extremely important to me because of how it affected the people in my life. My grandfather, who lives in Rockaway, had his entire basement and first floor flooded, leaving him with nothing but a destroyed home. In addition to this, he lost his boat, which has been very dear to him for many years. Other than my grandfather, I had friends who had their homes flooded, and as a result they lost many of their possessions. Fortunately, I did not know anyone personally who lost a life in the storm, but I heard the countless gruesome stories that left families devastated. I almost feel as though this small project is a tribute to all of the people who have continued on with their lives despite the tragedy that struck.
With a project such as this, I was bound to run into a plethora of problems. First of all, I had the difficulty of traveling back and forth between my dorm in the city and my home in Staten Island. For a while, the MTA shut down many trains, in addition to the Staten Island Ferry. Immediately following the hurricane, I was only able to travel to neighborhoods that were relatively close to me because there was a shortage of gas. As a result, I did not get to see the scope of the damage that existed along the entire shore of the island. All of the restrictions placed on my transportation limited the amount of immediate photos I could take of the storm. If I had the chance to take more photos right after the storm, I think the class would have been better able to see the truly devastating effects of the storm.
Besides my initial efforts to photograph the chaos, I went around on two separate occasions taking dozens of photographs. One instance was approximately two weeks ago with my father, and the second time was during the Thanksgiving break with my friend Mario. The day I traveled with my father, I focused on the South Shore of Staten Island. However, the day I roamed Staten Island with my friend, I focused more on the Midland Beach area. During both days, I encountered a number of diverse problems.
After going for breakfast one morning, my father agreed to drive around with me and help me take pictures of the destruction. One of the biggest problems I encountered that day were the various reactions of people. There I was, trying to take pictures for my slideshow, and people were giving me looks that seemed to wonder why I was driving around taking pictures of their ruined homes. At the time it didn’t make sense to me, but looking back I feel as though I should’ve been more discreet with my photography. Also, many of the homes were boarded up with big pieces of plywood around the property. In order to obtain some of these photos, I had to climb on top of my dad’s Ford Explorer to get a good shot. When Professor Bernstein told us to try to take the best picture possible, I took that advice literally.
My final round of photos was taken with one of my good friends, and it focused on the Midland Beach area. This area was probably hit more severely than the rest of Staten Island. On this day, we visited the sites of the Brown Cross and other volunteering organizations. In addition, we drove around taking photos of all the destruction that took place. This day I remember running into a few more problems. Midland Beach before the hurricane was pretty hectic. After the hurricane, I realized there was an absurd amount of traffic that made it nearly impossible at times to park my car and get out to take a photo. We also experienced the same awkward glances from natives of the area when we were photographing their homes. Despite the rushed nature of the day, I still managed to capture countless graphic photos. What I did not expect to get from all of this was the strength that some people found inside themselves, despite the mass chaos that surrounded them. I found that the pictures, such as the one in the final slide of my presentation, truly expressed the morale of Staten Island after the hurricane.
