The Year Of Pandemic 

ARTIST STATEMENT

• This project is about street photography, focusing on people’s lives one year after the lockdown. It will be a two-or three-minute-long video that records people’s activities in NY. I was inspired by the 20th movie and intended to learn film-making techniques via this project. Montage, black and white, freeze frame…… I targeted a Salon run by my friend who lives in the Chinese community (ex. Flushing)  near the city. For 2020, due to the COVID-19, Asian Americans suffered racism or discrimination; thus, I want to interview and record everything that happened to them recently and see what I can get. By the way, as a documentary photograph, no interview needs to be shown. The ideal form is a silent movie with several images. To tell a story,  add filters, editing effects, or try my best to capture people’s emotions. Speaking about the emotion, I am impressed by people’s current reaction toward nowaday status. People are indifferent about the passing year, even though they had a bad experience through the lockdown. That is why Flushing is unique because it is a wanderer’s hub.  People like Mr. Chen and Mr. Yong, who still have not mastered English, are always standing in the edginess of  American society. As a bystander who spoke Chinese and grew up in China, it is easy to understand their generation’s struggle. The discrimination that comes with the virus gives them double strikes, and these struggles and depression would not easily speak out as a photographer who shoots them on purpose. A particular goal can not be subjectively to demonstrate their authentical emotion; thus, I took several short clips inspired by the French new wave. The opening of “The 400 Blows” is the reference, such as the BGM and street scene. The black and white emphasize the theme— the damages of Covid. Via the short clip, the audience can feel the vibes and moods. Talking about these images. As I mentioned, this project is not an interview but a documentary photograph. In this aspect, I learned Dorothea Lange and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s techniques and styles, which refer to realism and surrealism. The only regret is lack of time. Even though people allow me to take photos, it is hard to get the most satisfying images, either in concept or visually. Images shown in the blog are only a few but the strongest of the collection—for example, images like Delivery Man. I had a short conversation with these delivery men, and I expect to learn about their lives. Then, one of them got an order and moved immediately; at that moment, I captured his back intended to demonstrate their busy life. Fortunately, the timing is not the best, but it still got a good blurry effect, making it dynamic. Overall, though the clips and images, I record people’s life in Flushing. The initial idea is to find the truth of people’s status; however, there is no truth found, but only diverse emotions.  I hope you guys like it.

The year of the pandemic 

The Survivor 

2020 is an extraordinary year. Since the virus, many small businesses have closed. China station is a restaurant near the train station. Unlike any other unlucky restaurant, they successfully passed this struggle. The last time I visited, they already opened the dining room. The CDC recently claimed that the high vaccination rate could bring everyone back to their previous life very soon. Hopefully, they can completely reopen very soon. So what makes this small restaurant survive? In the last year, the year of the pandemic, with the huge amount of customer churn. Like other restaurants near campus, China’s station, which relies on students, faces an immeasurable decline but still alive. A friend of mine, who used to run a milk tea bar in the mall, closed his bar in the middle of 2020. What causes the difference? The answer is delivery business rising. Delivery apps have become more important for business owners and their customers as more people order takeout and groceries during the coronavirus pandemic. “DoorDash Inc.’s DASH recent filing for an initial public offering and earnings reports from Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, +6.61%, Grubhub Inc. GRUB, +3.19%, and Postmates provided a deeper look into delivery apps’ business in 2020, and it is clear the pandemic has given the industry a big boost” (Market watch.com).  If we compare the cost of a dish of fire rice and a cup of milk tea— with only ten dollars, people can buy a full dish of fire rice in China station but only a cup of tea in the milk tea bar; furthermore, at the same delivery fee.  Instead of the price, the location is another advantage. China station is close to the station but close to the resident residential area. Therefore, the closer you are, the less delivery fee you pay. In this scenario, customers are more willing to order from China station, so delivery men would be more willing to choose orders from China station; in other words, these factors form a benign circle to save the restaurant from the crisis.  

   China Station

The Winner

If somebody or something benefits from Covid, it must be the company that owns the delivery business. “In the short term, many restaurants have little choice but to sign on with the apps. A Cowen & Co. survey of 2,500 consumers showed that in July, 52% said they would avoid restaurants and bars even after they fully reopen, and a recent rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide means many restaurants are again facing onsite-dining restrictions” (Markwatch.com).  This situation brings a turning point for the unemployment rate and creates a huge revenue growth for delivery workers. For a delivery man, the more you deliver, the more you earn. “ The older I got during the lockdown was more than ever.” A delivery man told me. This guy used to be a part-time delivery worker but changed to full-time since the lockdown. Rising demand for takeaway and the closure of the other industries have contributed to this scenario. “An estimated 233,000 Asian-American small businesses closed between February and April, a 28% decline, according to preliminary numbers published in a report by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. By contrast, 1.79 million non-Hispanic white small businesses closed during that time, a 17% drop.” ( Market Watch).  Thus, people from the lower-middle class are more likely to be delivery workers. Based on this Fact, the Big company that runs the food-delivery business had enough demand, supply, and workforce to extend their profit. Unquestionable, they are the big winner during the pandemic. 

   The growth of the big company

The Wander 

Not every business, like a food-delivery business, grows significantly on viruses. Subjectively, food-delivery service saves many small businesses but mainly on cater industries. Mr. Chen is a driver who works for a passenger transport company. His clients are mainly international tourists, especially from China. As we know, international transport has closed since May 2020. This situation struck their business hard. Second, he has to endure the psychological and physical stress caused by the epidemic. Usually, he drives one to two hours on average for each transport order, and if people want to go from state to state, then the time would be longer. Wearing a mask for seven to eight hours a day is a disaster for health; moreover, in the case of pandemics, staying with passengers at a close distance for a long time is stressful. As an immigrant who can’t speak English fluently, Mr. Chen also has to deal with the separation from American society. He told me that Chinese social media is the only way to get the news; furthermore, these news reports are propaganda. It would mislead people in the US to misunderstand the current policies and status of the virus.  In my opinion, American society neglects people like Mr. Chen. They grew up in the most special era in China and lacked education, which caused them to miss the best timing and opportunity to learn the language. These factors make them difficult to integrate into American society; unfortunately, Covid makes this situation even worse. Nowadays, the epidemic has improved, but people who live in invisible corners are still being ignored.  

   ¿Future?

The Barber

Mr. Yong is a barber who lost his job in the middle of 2020 because of the virus. His friend received him and found him a new job in another Salon. But unfortunately, a fire disaster burns the salon in January 2021. This accident makes Mr. Yong anxious and affected his mental health. According to the research, “Young adults have experienced a number of pandemic-related consequences, such as closures of universities and loss of income, that may contribute to poor mental health. During the pandemic, a larger than average share of young adults (ages 18-24) report symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder (56%). Compared to all adults, young adults are more likely to report substance use (25% vs. 13%) and suicidal thoughts (26% vs. 11%)” (KFF). The reason why Mr. Yong was stressed in two aspects, the uncertain future, and isolation. Like Mr. Chen, Mr. Yong can’t speak fluent English, which makes his life highly dependent on the Chinese community. Second, like Mr. Chen, lacked education brings about lacked opportunities; moreover, education background affects the flexibility to find different jobs during an emergency. With a limited social resource, his ability to resist risks has dropped drastically. Luckily, he found another new job from his friend— a barber in another salon. 

Conclusion 

According to research, “Stop AAPI Hate chronicled 3,795 hate incidents against Asian Americans between March 19, 2020, and Feb. 28, according to statistics published recently by the reporting center. Many of the incidents included verbal harassment (68%), deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans (21%), and physical assault (11%). Chinese people reported these incidents in the greatest numbers, followed by Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino people; the primary places where the discrimination occurred were businesses and public streets” ( Market Watch). Indeed, the status of Asian Americans is complicated. Racism might only reflect one side of the true color. Big companies are alway winners, but all small business owners can only follow their steps and pray. Talking about the struggle. For people who are suffering from a systemic dilemma, the Covid makes the situation worse. The virus rings the bell to the weakness of American society and reminds everyone to pay more attention to these groups.  

                                                                   Quotation 

Jagannathan, Meera. ‘Asian-American businesses are dealing with two viruses’: Reeling from racist incidents, many are hurting financially during COVID-19. March 21, 2021. Market Watch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-american-businesses-are-dealing-with-two-viruses-reeling-from-racist-incidents-many-are-hurting-financially-during-covid-19-11613610159

Panchal, Namita. The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use. Feb 10, 2021. KKF. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/

The Year Of Pandemic 

ARTIST STATEMENT

• This project is about street photography, focusing on people’s lives one year after the lockdown. It will be a two-or three-minute-long video that records people’s activities in NY. I was inspired by the 20th movie and intended to learn film-making techniques via this project. Montage, black and white, freeze frame…… I targeted a Salon run by my friend who lives in the Chinese community (ex. Flushing)  near the city. For 2020, due to the COVID-19, Asian Americans suffered racism or discrimination; thus, I want to interview and record everything that happened to them recently and see what I can get. By the way, as a documentary photograph, no interview needs to be shown. The ideal form is a silent movie with several images. To tell a story,  add filters, editing effects, or try my best to capture people’s emotions. Speaking about the emotion, I am impressed by people’s current reaction toward nowaday status. People are indifferent about the passing year, even though they had a bad experience through the lockdown. That is why Flushing is unique because it is a wanderer’s hub.  People like Mr. Chen and Mr. Yong, who still have not mastered English, are always standing in the edginess of  American society. As a bystander who spoke Chinese and grew up in China, it is easy to understand their generation’s struggle. The discrimination that comes with the virus gives them double strikes, and these struggles and depression would not easily speak out as a photographer who shoots them on purpose. A particular goal can not be subjectively to demonstrate their authentical emotion; thus, I took several short clips inspired by the French new wave. The opening of “The 400 Blows” is the reference, such as the BGM and street scene. The black and white emphasize the theme— the damages of Covid. Via the short clip, the audience can feel the vibes and moods. Talking about these images. As I mentioned, this project is not an interview but a documentary photograph. In this aspect, I learned Dorothea Lange and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s techniques and styles, which refer to realism and surrealism. The only regret is lack of time. Even though people allow me to take photos, it is hard to get the most satisfying images, either in concept or visually. Images shown in the blog are only a few but the strongest of the collection—for example, images like Delivery Man. I had a short conversation with these delivery men, and I expect to learn about their lives. Then, one of them got an order and moved immediately; at that moment, I captured his back intended to demonstrate their busy life. Fortunately, the timing is not the best, but it still got a good blurry effect, making it dynamic. Overall, though the clips and images, I record people’s life in Flushing. The initial idea is to find the truth of people’s status; however, there is no truth found, but only diverse emotions.  I hope you guys like it.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

•  My goal is to discover and report on Asian American life in 2020. In this aspect, I am willing to start from a different angle, focusing on how the virus damages their life and trying to know their mind. In terms of concept, maybe something like realism and surrealism would fit the theme well. I am interested in a hybrid form— video and images+written. However, the subject will be the people who live in the Chinese community(Flushing). The 20th movie and street photograph is the ideal form of my project; thus, I wish to learn the style by doing this project.

OUTCOMES

Vivian Maier (1926–2009)

Vivian Maier (1926 – 2009) was an American street photographer born in New York City. She was famous for her talent for surrealism. Most of her pieces are street photographs. John Maloof discovered Vivian Maier’s photography at a local auction house in Chicago. Over the course of five decades, she would ultimately leave over 2,000 rolls of film, 3,000 prints, and more than 100,000 negatives, most of them shot with her Rolleiflex in Chicago and New York City and shared with virtually no one in her lifetime.

In terms of Surrealism.

“Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on; you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.” – Vivian Maier.

Play with the depth, wide aperture.

  Silhouette

My project is gonna be a video, and Vivian inspires me in style.

 

Dorothea Lange

American, 1895–1965

Dorothea Lange was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration. Lange’s photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression.

 

 

 

Dorothea Lange, “The Assignment I’ll Never Forget,” Popular Photography 46 (February 1960). Reprinted in Lange: Migrant Mother (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018), pp. 40–41. Thompson disputed several elements of Lange’s recollections, which appear to have been drawn from contemporary newspaper reports.

 

 

Migrant Mother, 1936

To reflect the struggle life of poor people, Dorothea focuses on their expression, which refers to her photograph—most of her images are close shot.

White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, 1933

Workers during the great depression. Composition highlights the contrast between figures in front ground and background, which demonstrate helplessness and sorrow.

 

Lisette Model

(1901 – 1983) American (b. Austria)

Lisette Model (born Elise Amelie Felicie Stern; November 10, 1901 – March 30, 1983) was an Austrian-born American photographer primarily known for the frank humanism of her street photography.

Model images can be categorized as “street photography,” a style developed after the invention of the hand-held camera, which made quick, candid shots possible. Through her own complicated personal history, she found intensely empathetic connections with her disparate subjects.

Sailer And Girl,  1940

Overexpose with a unique composition creates the contrast between the front ground and background and highlights the figure’s expression.

Dolls, Venezuela, 1954

Dramatic, creepy.

Henri Cartier-Bresson 1908 –  2004

Born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, Henri Cartier-Bresson developed a strong fascination with painting early on, particularly Surrealism.

 ” For me, the camera is a sketchbook, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by the economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”

Surrealism is the key to understand Henri’s works. The way he makes his image dramatic inspires me a lot. Take this one as an example: perfect composition and lighting, the halo around the figure, and the trees fading in the background.

Create different layers by shooting in different high—division and dramatic at the same time.

Irving Penn

Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still-lifes. He is one of the great photographers of the 20th century. He’s renowned for breaking down the boundary between commercial and fine-art photography.

Irving Penn, Bee, New York, 1995

A picture of The Beauty series. I am impressed by the aesthetic—a perfect example of how to use lens language to demonstrate the information to the audience. Focus on the lips, and if the bee is seeking honey, then the mouse is a flower, obviously.  

  Salvador Dali (1947), Irving Penn © The Irving Penn Foundation

This one is probably the most famous surrealist painter Dali. The image was shot in a narrow aperture so the audience can see the depth. Shooting the narrow aperture to emphasize the figure is very common in his portrait photographing.

  Cigarette No. 34, New York 1972, printed May 1974

This one is called ‘Cigarette.’ The cigarette was against this background that Penn learned in 1971 that his mentor, who was never without a cigarette—had died of cancer. In this case, he shot a group of cigarettes. He focuses on two decay cigarettes so that the audience can feel the pain behind his mentor’s death.

Italian Still Life (B), New York, 198

 This one calls Italian still life very conceptualized, Irving focuses on demonstrating texture and contrast between different colors, so this one he underexposes to get the effect. 

Vogue magazine

this one was published in Vogue magazine and didn’t have a title. A woman holds her head and looks at the camera. It is a good example of how to get a perfect highlight when underexposed. Basically, we can see how the highlights create contrast and emphasis on the figure’s expression.

Red Rooster, NewYork, 2004

This one is called the red rooster illustrated in 2004. A rooster with a Vivid expression gives intent to  Humanization. Penn controls the timing so that the rooster looks at the camera. 

Irving Penn’s wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, poses for ‘Harlequin Dress’ (1950). Courtesy of Conde Nast

The figure is Penn’s wife. Close shot the figure with a powerful Muzzy effect by the cloth in visual, rare contrast between the figure and background, Penn probably set in underexposed with a wide aperture.

White Face with Color Smears, New York, 1986

This one is one of the portrait series, and the brush chocks are after effect. Very conceptualized.

GIRL BEHIND WINE BOTTLE, NEW YORK, 1949

This one uses a wide aperture to demonstrate the figure at different distances. The bottom reflects the figure in the foreground, and the figure in the background is not in focus.

  Woman in Chicken Hat (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), New York, ca. 1949

This one is Woman in a Chicken hat, which is also a close shot portrait. The timing always matters to make sure the figures and the chicken look in the same direction.

  no title

Another shot in Vogue, very exaggerated and conceptualized. The figure was behind two glasses, and the reflection illustrates big eyes; also, the light shading shadow gives the image a perfect composition. 

Pose series

The next three images come from the pose series. The figures on this series stand in the corner; thus, it creates a sense of space and creates contrast. The light in the background is always darker than the light in the figures. At this point, the camera will capture the contrast and the figure’s gesture easily. 

Irving Penn -Miles Davis’ hand

This one is the shot of Davis’s hand. A series of close shots focus on the contrast and the textures on the one hand. Just like a sketch, find the darkest light and the lightest dark.

Overall, Penn is a very conceptualized photographer. It reflects on either his still life or portrait photography. Even though he posts most of his image in Vogue, I still can not find too many pop elements, and his technique is very close to sketching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTvXhvpuPY

In the previous year, the virus hit the world hard.

This is China Station, a Chinese food bar near the campus. Like any other restaurant, they close the dining since the Covid-19.

Current status.

The bar suffered a revenue drop significantly due to the virus, but fortunately, the bar’s boss doesn’t lay out employees yet. They were reopening the dining nowadays, but the virus stalks the customer.

  Tip can

The Cashier told me. For the last year, they can only place a table in front of the door and check over the table. During the beginning of the pandemic, no one is allowed to go inside the bar except the faculty. Thus, takeaway service and self-collection became the only way to run the business. By the way, Their main customers are SBU students, which mean they lose their customer due to campus shut down. Nevertheless, they survived the most difficult time.

Just like the China station, many restaurant bosses adjusted their strategy for surviving. The delivery service was booming during the pandemic.  The Four-top US-delivery apps saw revenue by $3 billion collectively in the second and third quarters.

The delivery business was grown in Flushing as well. As a Chinese community whose main food industry, the delivery service, is a big business-saving factor. Fortunately, I got a chance to interview a delivery man who had worked on Flushing for the last year. “ The older I got during the lockdown was more than ever.” He told me, He used to treat this job as a part-time job, but now he chooses to stay.

Salon after the fire disaster

Mr. Yong is a barber who works in a salon. For the past year, the lockdown hit their business hard, and once lost job. Moreover, they suffered a fire disaster in February, and the building had burned. This bad case scenario forced Yong to move to his friend’s Salon. The last time I visited him, we got a call from an insurance company. Yong was overwhelmed since he was just an employee. However, either virus or fire disaster does not matter. As a single immigrant who moved to America alone, the most necessary thing is the connection to his friend. Now, as you see, series of events isolated him from others.

Scene of fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcGgNGx8S_0

Mr. Chen is a driver who works for a passenger transport company. The virus affected his life significantly. Usually, his major client was the international tourists, and the pandemic was cut down on his customer source. Except for delivery tourists, he also took interstate transport orders. The last time I met him, he used a transparent fabric to block the driving seat. To support his family, he has to spend most of the day on the road. He told me that he wants to buy a house near Stony Brook, but now this plan has to be delayed.

                                                                                  ¿Future?

The only certainty is uncertainty. Mr. Chen and Mr. Yong are not mastery the English language yet. This disadvantage causes terrible scenarios, such as isolated by society or any limitation. By the way, I answer the Phone call from the insurance company for Mr. Young when I came to his salon. If I weren’t there, he would lose a chance to check his insurance.

People taking vaccine

Now, vaccines are available for most of the communities. So far, the situation is getting better and better, But not everyone is lucky. My friend who used to run a milk tea shop had closed his business due to the lockdown.  He doesn’t want to show anything related to his life publicly, but one thing for sure is he stayed at home for almost half a year since he ended his career.

Graffiti

The virus changes the world entirely. “The economic situation, on the other hand, is unlikely to improve anytime soon. Falling revenues combined with costly pandemic relief measures have increased global debt by $20 trillion since the third quarter of 2019. By the end of 2020, economists expect global debt to reach $277 trillion, or 365% of world GDP” (World Economic Forum). The high debt ratio is a big challenge toward economic recovery. The federal government release alms, but the debt issue can not be solved yet. Economic after the pandemic is still uncertain.

Research journal

I research different photographers Before start my video shooting.

Vivian Maier (1926–2009)

Vivian Maier (1926 – 2009) was an American street photographer born in New York City. She was famous for her talent for surrealism. Most of her pieces are street photographs. John Maloof discovered Vivian Maier’s photography at a local auction house in Chicago. Over the course of five decades, she would ultimately leave over 2,000 rolls of film, 3,000 prints, and more than 100,000 negatives, most of them shot with her Rolleiflex in Chicago and New York City and shared with virtually no one in her lifetime.

In terms of Surrealism.

“Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on; you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.” – Vivian Maier.

Play with the depth, wide aperture.

  Silhouette

My project is gonna be a video, and Vivian inspires me in style.

Dorothea Lange, “The Assignment I’ll Never Forget,” Popular Photography 46 (February 1960). Reprinted in Lange: Migrant Mother (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018), pp. 40–41. Thompson disputed several elements of Lange’s recollections, which appear to have been drawn from contemporary newspaper reports.

Migrant Mother, 1936

To reflect the struggle life of poor people, Dorothea focuses on their expression, which refers to her photograph—most of her images are close shot.

White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, 1933

Workers during the great depression. Composition highlights the contrast between figures in front ground and background, which demonstrate helplessness and sorrow.

Born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, Henri Cartier-Bresson developed a strong fascination with painting early on, and particularly with Surrealism.