Finding the Light on Ellis Island

ISO 100, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/320s, Focal Length 60mm

On May 12^th, my husband and I attended a photo workshop on Ellis Island hosted by Joe McNally and Ari Espay through Fancy Girl/Street Boy Productions. This was a one-day workshop and one of McNally’s more affordable workshops, at around $750 per person for the day.  It was worth the price as we had access to the closed side of Ellis Island, hands-on photo instruction, were able to talk one-on-one with Joe and Ari, a flash demo, a light breakfast, and lunch.

The day started with a 5:45AM arrival at the Battery Park Pier, so we could take the employee ferry over to Ellis Island.  Once gathered at the pier we went through security, and boarded the 6:30AM ferry to the island. We were met at the Ellis Island pier by Joe McNally and members of the Save Ellis Island team.  Save Ellis Island is a non-profit that works in conjunction with the National Parks to maintain the hospital side of Ellis Island.  From there we were led to a class room to get our equipment ready, leave anything we didn’t need, and get the safety brief.  After the safety brief we picked up our hardhats and divided into two groups, one with Joe and one with Ari to head out to the first building.  The group with Joe went to the back of the build and the group with Ari stayed in the front of the building, after 45 minutes the groups switched locations and instructors.  Jim and I started the day with Joe.   

The room we started in had nice morning light streaming through the windows into room.  From that room you could also see the Statue of Liberty.  Joe provided advice as to how he might work the room and compositional suggestions then let people work and explore.  About 15-20 minutes into shooting Joe did an impromptu discussion on using a distressed room wall and available window light to create a portrait of one of the members of the group.  A bit later he gave a small talk about looking for small details to help tell a story with photography.   After about 45-minutes we switched with the other group to photograph the front section of the house and work with Ari.  

ISO 400, Aperture F5.6, Shutter 1/320s, Focal Length 28mm

Ari pointed out some things to consider in the front section of the house, and recommended focusing on texture and the play of light.  He also walked around and talked to people to see what they were shooting, looking at the back of their cameras and made helpful suggestions on how to improve composition.  After about another 45-minutes both groups joined up to return to the classroom for a light breakfast and a talk from Joe about the first time he shot Ellis Island back in the early 1980s.

ISO 400, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/8s, Focal Length 18mm

Breakfast was coffee, tea, bottled juice, bottled water, bagels, cream cheese, danishes, muffins, and croissants.

Joe did about a 30-minute talk about the first time he shot Ellis Island and the challenges he faced.  He said it was a lot more difficult back then, with rudimentary radio triggers, dealing with foremen to bring his own generator onto the island, and working with film.  He said digital has made things so much easier.    After the presentation we went back out to a different build.

The second building included the nursing quarters and a few wards.  For this building we were divided into three groups. We were in the first group lead by one of the Save Ellis Island employees who is also a photographer.  We started on the third floor, which was the nurses’ quarters.  I’m glad my husband had a flashlight with him, because there is no power or lights in the buildings, so the stair well going up to the third floor was very dark.  While I think I got some good shots, I didn’t find the third floor very interesting. There was not a lot of natural light entering this floor/section of the building, thus I ended up using my tripod and some fill flash.  After about 30-minutes or so we traveled down to the second floor, which was much more open and had several large windows lighting the hallways and rooms.  This was the patients ward level.  Since looters took advantage of the island, before it went under National Park protection, a lot of the artifacts were already gone.  Mostly we saw lone chairs, empty cupboards, broken windows, and abandoned bathrooms.  However, there was an art installation by French artist JR, titled Unframed—Ellis Island in the building, which was black and white portraits of the immigrants that came through island painted on the walls.  I used my tri-pod a lot during this portion of the workshop, as well as live view on my camera.  Also, I was very thankful for flash assisted focusing in some of the rooms.  I really liked how the workshop kept photographers in small groups, even through there was only about 15 of us, it helped with not tripping over one another and being able to really take your time composing a shot.  I never felt rushed to get a shot.  After about two hours we headed back to the class room for lunch and a question-and-answer period with Joe and Ari.

ISO 400, Aperture F11, Shutter 1/15s, Focal Length 18mm

ISO 800, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/15s, Focal Length 18mm

ISO 800, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/5s, Focal Length 32mm

Lunch was a boxed lunch, which consisted of a sandwich, chips, an apple, and a soft chocolate chip cookie.  I chose one of the lunches with turkey and swiss; my husband got one of the few ham and swiss sandwiches. They also had bottled coke, sprite, water, and lemonade to drink.

After lunch we went back over to the buildings for our last session.  The last session started with a portrait demonstration using flash led by Joe.  The demonstration was held in the teaching morgue, since it had a place for people to sit.  The demo was very good, and Joe was tethered to a lap top so we could all easily see the results.  After the demo we broke into groups again to shoot more of the hospital side, which included the old pharmacy and incinerators. I really liked the room with the old incinerators, just because of how the light was pouring into the room through the big doors leading to the room. Though my husband and I both had to firmly ask a couple people to get out of the light, because they were setting up for shots right in the middle of all the available light.  They apparently did not learn the key lesson of the day, “find the light”.  The other interesting location, was a bathroom where you could see the Statue of Liberty in the mirror over the sink.  I couldn’t get the shot right with my DSLR because I couldn’t go wide enough to get the mirror and the sink. However, I was able to get it with my cell phone camera.  Sometimes it is whatever works to get the shot.  We wrapped up for the day around 2:30 PM.  We headed back to the classroom, dropped off our hardhat, packed up our stuff, and said bye to Joe and Ari. 

ISO 800, Aperture F9, Shutter 1s, Focal Length 18mm

Taken with Cell Phone

After finishing the workshop my husband and I stopped by the Ellis Island visitor center to look around before getting on the ferry to head back to our hotel.  It was a very tiring day.

ISO 800, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/50s, Focal Length 18mm

Overall, I thought it was a good workshop. I’m glad I had my tripod with me as there was no way I was going to be able to handhold the camera for some of the shots I took, with shutter speeds as long as 3 seconds.  This was also the most I have used live view on my camera, outside of doing still life and macro photography. Just so you have an idea of my settings for the day, my ISO ranged from ISO 100 to ISO 6400 with most shots at ISO 800.  My aperture ranged from F3.5 to F22 with most shots being at F9 to pick up details. My shutter speed ranged from 6 seconds to 1/2500 seconds with most images being shot at 1/125 seconds. My focal length ranged from 18mm to 200mm with the most common focal length being 18mm.  I took 396 photos and reduced it down to 104 final images.  The significant culling is due to taking repeat shot to ensure focus, adjustments in composition, and just experimentation.  I had a lot of similar shots; it came down to picking the best one of the series. Also, some shots might have been good ideas at the time but after a second look, weren’t that great due to lack of subject.  I will say at first it was easy to want to shoot everything but as the day progressed, I slowed down and looked for the composition, story, and light. I felt this was a good experience, and hopefully I’ll get to go to one of Joe McNally’s longer workshops. Those are a little more expensive.  You can see all my photos from Ellis Island here: Ellis Island.