After hearing that Rookie’s May theme was Graduation, we thought about transition and how it could be reflected and narrated in ways other than words. We looked for evidence of transition in nature, in our daily life, and with people in general.
We remembered a night on New York’s JMZ subway line, on the way to the city as the sun was setting. It was late, and we were tired but also excited for whatever was waiting on the other end of the bridge. We were scared and unsure, but somehow found more solace in the fantasy of our destination.
We returned to that same spot on the JMZ, but this time with cameras, sunglasses, and even more friends than before. As we waited, we were comfortable in a place we had been so many times before. It would have been easy to stay and get caught up in the familiar, but we had somewhere new in mind. Our curiosity was illuminated and we were off.
We thought about the familiarity of the train ride in the context of graduation, and suddenly we paid more attention to what we were leaving behind. We looked out the window and wondered if what we were leaving would remember us? Had we made an impact?
It is easy to go but hard to leave. Nothing is as scary as it seems.
The world was changing with us. The sun was turning the city pink, and later the moon would make everything blue. We remained ourselves but became other people too, changing as easily as the colors of the sky.
Thank you to Audrey, Eddie, Jane, and Mia for modeling.Lucy Johnston is a young photographer from New York City. She started taking photos in the seventh grade and loves to photograph her friends. She currently co-runs Loser Zine with her friend Olivia. She also loves David Bowie, watching movies, and 7-Eleven slurpees.
Olivia Wein is a young, New York City–based photographer working to find out who she is to herself, other people, and the world as she knows it. She found her love of photography through an old friend and continues to fall in love with it, over and over again, through new ones.
2 Comments
I’m obsessed with this. #20 and #37 are pure magic.
This is so beautiful <3 Amazing! i love all the photos, honestly.