My blog has moved

Thanks for coming back to check out my blog. If you’re reading this now you probably have an email subscription, or a search engine brought you here. If you’re a current mailing list subscriber this will be the last you receive from me. That said, I hope you will take a moment to click here and sign up to the new mailing list which means you’ll receive an email every time I make a new blog post. I believe in quality over quantity so you can expect to receive no more than an email or two per week at most. And of course I promise not to spam you or give your email to anyone.

You can view the new blog at: http://reedyoung.com/blog/

The new website has also launched: http://reedyoung.com

Thank you,

Reed

We can’t wait.

Please view this post at the new location of my blog by clicking here.

On a sunny Friday afternoon somewhere in Brooklyn two of the adventurers’ work with machine precision to complete and deliver the first gallery application for Abstracts of Change. A heart pounding bike ride into Soho, and a few close calls later, the package was delivered on time. On the road back to Brooklyn one of the adventures has a moment to look back and reflect. From the first second it was conceived, walking out of the opening of Mired in the Bayou, to the defeating layover in Istanbul after a month spent in India. The other adventurer is at home editing down the final quotes and doing some reflecting of his own. The road trip from New Delhi to Jaipur was the first thing that came to mind. After 7 hours of swerving into oncoming traffic, dodging semi trucks loaded 3 times their maximum capacity, we realized that we were meant to get home and tell these 15 people’s stories.

We can’t wait.

The Home Team for TIME Magazine

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A few weeks ago I was commissioned by TIME Magazine to shoot a feature about home-schooled kids and the laws surrounding their legal right to play on local school sports teams. It’s been a contentious issue in the last few months, especially in the state of Virginia, where I spent a Sunday afternoon with the Faulconer family.

Just days later the legislation was voted down by the Senate Education Committee of the Virginia General Assembly, by one vote. Regardless of your opinions about home schooling, this is a whole new issue in and of itself.

If you’d like to read the story, you can pick up the issue of TIME on newsstands today, or click here to view the story in it’s entirety.

Photo Editor: Marie Tobias

A Morning in Hasidic Jewish Williamsburg

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Back in January I decided to push my luck and try taking some pictures in the Jewish neighborhood of Williamsburg. They are known for being such an insular and private community and that’s why I’ve always found them so fascinating. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy morning and that I surely wouldn’t be able to bring any of my lights. So I set out on my bike with the intent of doing this as photojournalist for a change. At the beginning I had to stay back from the action and shoot from afar because people were so opposed to me taking their pictures.

After a discouraging 2 hours I was approached by the 10th person wondering what I was doing. The previous 9 were not very accepting and I didn’t feel like explaining myself again. I didn’t have much of a choice and I’m glad because he was so friendly and helpful. After telling him I was taking pictures of the neighborhood his first response was “I bet you’ve been having a rough go of it.” I laughed and said he was right. He responded by saying “Go across the street to that bookstore. Buy a Yarmulke for $4 and wear it. You’ll have a lot better luck and you’ll probably even be able to go inside the synagogue.” So I did just that.

I don’t think the more welcoming response was based on discrimination as much as trust. I’ve spoken with some Orthodox Jewish people and they say their private nature stems from the fact that they’ve had some bad luck in the past 2000 years.

By no means are these pictures a definitive representation of the neighborhood. This could never be achieved in 5 hours. But it’s what I saw on that balmy January morning.

Early Decision for TIME – Outtakes

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One of the many reasons it’s interesting to work for TIME magazine is because the editorial space is so tight; stories are constantly shifted and features often cut in order to accommodate breaking or world news coverage. I was pleasantly surprised that the TIME editors decided to extend the story I shot from four to five pages—but that still left only enough space for three images.

I’ve found that it’s rare for editors to pick the same images I would for a story (TIME did that and I was very happy about it, but it’s rare). Many fellow photographers say, Never send a picture you don’t like, because they’ll usually end up running them. I disagree. I appreciate the collaborative effort between myself and the photo editor. Sometimes he or she will choose a final image I never particularly liked that I’ll end up loving in print. I’ve realized that my emotional attachment to a photo can sometimes affect my judgment. It’s so subjective that I always try to send a wide selection to chose from.

The below shoot for TIME was no exception. I sent around thirty pictures in total; sometimes a few of the same situation. The first three are the ones they decided to use; the rest are outtakes.

Occupy Wall Street for Bill Magazine

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Last night I rode past Zuccotti park in lower Manhattan only to find a handful of protesters representing the Occupy Wall Street movement at it’s physical birthplace. But on October 15 of last year it was a very different scene. Looking back, that day seemed to represent the peak of the entire movement. There were coordinated marches all over the world and everyone but the crazy Italians in Rome stayed peaceful.

Speaking of crazy Italians, I was on assignment that day for Bill Magazine. Bill is a new quarterly publication produced by Tita about the way we communicate in the 21st century. They asked me to photograph all the protesters with their signs. Since picket signs are one of the few remaining old-school forms of expression, I thought it would be an interesting take on the magazine’s theme.

I started in the park early that morning and brought my normal lighting setup. There was so much chaos that day that most people didn’t even seem to notice my lights swaying in the wind above their heads. In the early afternoon I found myself in the middle of Times Square, apparently surrounded by an estimated 125,000 protesters.

Early Decision for TIME Magazine

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Last weekend I was commissioned by TIME Magazine to shoot a feature about the declining number of babies born with Down syndrome. Due to advances in medicine and prenatal testing, parents-to-be now know at only fifteen weeks whether or not their baby will be born with Down’s. Since nine out of ten parents who test positive end up aborting the pregnancy, there has been a sharp decrease in Down’s children over the past ten years.

The people I met doing this story were wonderful, and it was an experience I won’t soon forget. If you’d like to read the story, you can pick up the issue of TIME on newsstands today, or just click here to view it online.

Photo Editor: Erica Campbell