Storytelling with photos has been my primary craft as a photographer for many years. Although much of my current work is created to help businesses with their marketing, I’m still excited to take on the role of photojournalist. Seasons of New Haven magazine provided me a golden opportunity to create photographs to illustrate a story on the City of New Haven’s efforts to address current and future problems relating to storm runoff and rising sea levels.
Storytelling Photography: People and Landscapes
Writer Theresa Sullivan Barger arranged for a tour of East Shore Park with New Haven City Engineer Giovanni Zinn. He met us at the park and explained in detail the city’s long term plans that would make the shoreline more accessible and mitigate storm and sea related issues. I decided to create a portrait of Mr. Zinn that would incorporate him with the natural shoreline landscape he was working to protect. I took advantage of cloud filtered sunlight and added just a touch of my own fill light for this environmental portrait.
New Haven: Shoreline
Future plans for East Shore Park include re-engineering the shoreline to make it more accessible to park visitors. I knew that I needed to return another day when sun and tide would be best and actually wade in to the water of New Haven Harbor. The resulting photos show views most people would not see from the area where sea grasses help to protect the reed bound shoreline. I also chose to document in photos how residents are enjoying the landscape as it is today.
New Haven: Downtown
Bioswales that collect and divert storm water in residential and business districts of New Haven are also part of the story. They’ve also been called miniature rain gardens. There are many of these gardens throughout the city today. To document the bioswales downtown, I rose well before dawn on a rainy night.
I also returned at various times during the day to capture the changes in the light and environment as the sun arced across the sky.
I believe that learning as much as possible about any subject is a key foundation to capturing the best photographs in photojournalism and commercial photography. Making the effort to be there when conditions are best makes it all come together. Resulting photos are informational and enjoyable to view.
You can read Seasons of New Haven story “Safe Haven“ online at this link: Safe Haven Story and Photos
Tony Bacewicz / Atlantic Vision Media – New Haven