Page 13 - Capture Nov-Jan 2021

community meant a violent combination of
pandemic and social unrest hit the streets of
major cities including New York, where street
photographer Daniel Arnold most typically
spends his days working in the observational
NYC street photography tradition. But as his
regular jaunts for reportage soon turned to
battleground scenes, Arnold’s task of reporting
on his beloved city took unprecedented
importance, much of which was surmised in an
innovative story in The New York Times style
section, edited by Eve Lyons, where Arnold pushed the limits of the relevance and use of street photography in an editorial setting.
As Arnold himself recalls, realising that he was at the coalface of such an unprecedented time, throwing his hat in the photojournalism ring initially yielded no response. Perhaps to the regret of the those who later saw his now-celebrated document of the city in strife. “When this started, I kind of threw my hat in the ring to newspaper people. I was like, ‘Look, I'm going out every day, so if you need a man on the street, I'm available’. And didn't even get a reply,” says Arnold. But as he adds; the realisation of the importance of this era was what drove him to continue documenting New York City in a style that blends his typical street work with a tinge of
photojournalism, adding that to look to other genres might be to avoid some kind of responsibility that photographers of his calibre have at such a time. “I am very comfortable doing work where I'm documenting what’s happening in the city; I guess I feel much more comfortable right now with journalistic work than anything else. The idea of doing a fashion job right now...how could I possibly do that?”
While the nobility of Arnold’s want to document this state of his beloved city is a near anomaly among photographers of his status, a similar thread has appeared among other American photographers who have found the need to tread a precarious line between photographer, influencer, and activist at such an unprecedented time in the country’s history. At just over one million Instagram followers, photographer Cory Richards says that while his platform drastically amplifies his voice in such a divided community, he is acutely aware of his role and obligations in the public sphere. “Do I feel a responsibility because of my audience? No. Do I feel a responsibility because of my position and privilege? Yes,” says Richards. “Instagram can be used for good, but it’s also used to disseminate trash and vitriol, so I try to keep my intentions very authentic and very clear. Because of that, I feel pulled to make statements about climate change and black lives matter, and similar movements, because of my own understanding of my place within those issues. I don’t agree with popular handles being lambasted because their silence is
To tell this story
and to have it published was quite special... Kate Geraghty
[capture] nov.20_jan.21
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© DANIEL BEREHULAK