The Ferry
Anticipation grew as I imagined what might transpire once onboard. Leaving every half hour “the Boat” crosses from The City to The Island. For that brief half hour, I feel connected with each lover, loner, tourist and commuter on board. We take the journey together. Tourists gaze at the Statue while abandoning themselves to the wild, wasteful ocean air of New York Bay are weary commuters. Each of these experiences became interesting to me when I returned to the Staten Island Ferry as a commuter. A long time ago, I had taken this journey. I rode it for fun as a child. Now I rode it for necessity. I carried my camera with me as I rode the Ferry each day. The rich color palette and its expressive riders began to interest me. It seems like no other place offers so much potential to see people, to spy, to catch someone in a rare second of private repose. It is unique to the Boat because living in New York City forces us into inhuman psychic paces. There is little room to slow down. The twenty five minute voyage on the Staten island Ferry allows me to stop and look outward, or inward. It became a break in the day when the journey was more important than the destination.
I began photographing on the Ferry in 2017 when I returned home to New York City after six months photographing in Carbon County, Wyoming. Since March 2019, this vibrant ferry life has all but vanished. Each time I take the boat I reflect on those days with the camera, before the city and our world changed forever.
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