Signals At The End of Summer

This project is a fish tank to peer into and witness the stir of Coney Island and subdued moments in between, each photo acting as a pair of hands pressed against glass, watching the scene inside.

The atmosphere at Coney Island is an indication of the season, a finger on the year's pulse. The sound of a child screaming, "Mom, look!" at a metallic painted man blends in unison with the spray of water on the shore and announces summer's arrival. Eventually, vibrant sunsets serve as a backdrop against the empty expanse of Coney's famed boardwalk, heralding the cold season. 

A friend once likened Coney Island to peering into a fish tank, an ecosystem with an array of species. There is a part that sits close to the sun—the warmth and bustle in summer. It contrasts against the quiet, expansive boardwalk in winter, the metaphorical dark of the fish tank’s bottom. Then there are the parts in-between—alleys of carnival games and workers counting the day’s earnings. The fish that swim between the crevices of coral. To bear witness to Coney amidst changing seasons is to witness this ecosystem in full, standing nose against glass to a blooming aquarium.

These photos are an excerpt of an ongoing long term documentary project on Coney Island, in which I’m aiming to blend my photographs and writing to provide an intimate look into the long-time attendees, residents, and employees of Coney. The project is a fish tank to peer into and witness the stir of Coney and subdued moments in between, each photo acting as a pair of hands pressed against glass, watching the scene inside.

Everyone knows Coney as the birth of the amusement park and for Nathan's famous hotdog contest, but to fully understand and witness what makes Coney so special, one has to stop and pay attention to the people, look around the corners—to stare up at the coaster as it goes by. This project invites the viewer to come closer, feel comfortable enough to press their hands against the glass, and observe the people and places frozen in time in different parts of the fish tank. It invites the viewer to encounter Coney Island from anywhere in the world through the printed photograph.

All of the photographs are shot on film and printed in the darkroom, aside from the images shot on positive film, which cannot be darkroom printed. The darkroom prints are 10x12in and have been scanned in to present digitally.