The Photo Brigade » Andy Jacobsohn

Gazes of Unemployment – by Andy Jacobsohn

admin — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:46:30 +0000

NYC-based freelancer Andy Jacobsohn recently photographed a job fair in Iselin, New Jersey.

The unemployed or those unhappy with their current job status queued up to almost 200 job seekers in either direction as they waited to enter a 3-hour job fair. A Renaissance hotel in Iselin, New Jersey, could be the launching point to a new career for one of those waiting to enter the banquet hall. Scattered throughout the corridor was a miscellany of employers from New Jersey Transit and Prudential to financial institutions and technological and vocationally schools. Schools like the Stenotech Career Institute that boasts a 0% employment rate in the field of stenography – but before the students make the potential 6-figure salary they have to spend cash they don’t have on a 3-year education. The recruitment associate from the school wasn’t hesitate to say that she will likely not have a new student come out of this job fair, or fairs like it. The would-be students need income now.

Continue reading and see more photos on Andy’s blog.

In My Bag – by Andy Jacobsohn

admin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:48:42 +0000

Andy Jacobsohn is a freelance editorial and commercial photographer learning to settle down in New York City. He is also a photo editor at Newsweek Daily Beast. Jacobsohn, a self-described “Florida Boy” earned a degree in visual journalism from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He owes much of his remarkable experiences in storytelling to the editors of Major League Baseball, The Dallas Morning News, The Florida Times-Union, ESPN and McClatchy-Tribune. Jacobsohn believes that one of the greatest privileges and rousing thrills of visual storytelling is the access to enter a stranger’s home to make their portrait and departing with a friend. In his free time, the Parrotheaded-Floridian studies the culinary possibilities of avocado and maps out his next upstate New York-bound camping trip.

List:

- Canon 5D Mark II

- Canon 1D Mark II

- Tamron 17-35mm 2.8-4

- Canon 50mm 1.4

- Canon 70-200mm 2.8L

- Canon Speedlite 430EX

- MacBook Pro

Assembling a bag of reliable gear gained to-do list-precedence while preparing to set off following my second internship with The Dallas Morning News and dash into freelancing. In the process, ignoring the “I wish I had…” advice from those who explored the “school-internship-freelance” realm before myself would have been a mistake.

Call the advisor or me a fiscal conservative. The received words of resonance: “I wish I had saved my money and purchased only the necessary gear needed to start freelancing.”

The point was made to prevent a beginner from accruing more-than-necessary debt when gear exists that fulfills clients’ needs. When there is no guarantee of immediate business or business at all, observance of this may make paying the creditors easier.

Minus what was issued at my internships, before freelancing my gear consisted of a Canon 1D Mark II body, a Tamron 17-35, a Canon 70-200, and a Speedlite 430EX, along with an old MacBook Pro. Some of this gear was purchased used while in school and others were included in my student loans. A week before leaving Dallas, with the advise on my mind, I purchased a Canon 50 1.4, to cover the middle range, and a Canon 5D Mark II to finish the bag update.

The 50 1.4 was the cost-effective, reliable choice compared to the more expensive 50 1.2. The new 5D purchase may have broken the formula, but I felt more comfortable with a new body in all its capabilities given I had an aging, already used body in the 1D.

While covering local assignments I carried two inherited and trusty bags. I kept the spare lens and other immediately needed equipment in a Canon “fanny pack” that was handed out by Canon while covering the Super Bowl. I stored my laptop, snacks and transmitting gear in an embroidered messenger bag issued to The Dallas Morning News’ photojournalists.

I had to carry the bag around after Dallas to remember one key lesson I learned during my internship: God Blessed Texas.

But then again, I try to forget that all my exes live in Texas.

Blind Chinese Dissident Chen Guangcheng Arrives in New York City – Andy Jacobsohn

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:17:25 +0000

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng gestures with his wife, Yuan Weijing, beside him before making remarks to the media upon arriving on the campus of New York University on May 19, 2012 in New York, New York. China allowed the activist to leave a hospital in Beijing and board a plane for the US, a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic standoff between the two countries. (Andy Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

NYC-based freelancer Andy Jacobsohn photographed blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng’s arrival on the campus of New York University in Manhattan.

Under the circumstances that surround blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and the availability of this “media opportunity” the moment was shrouded in its rarity for the media and absolute joy for the dissident and his family as he stepped with one bad foot into the United States.

Continue reading and see more photos on Andy’s blog.

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng steps out of a van with his wife, Yuan Weijing, beside him before making remarks to the media. (Andy Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

The injured foot of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng stands next to a group of recorders while Chen makes remarks to the media. (Andy Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

USA Yoga National Championship – by Andy Jacobsohn

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:18:57 +0000

NYC-based freelance photographer Andy Jacobsohn shot the USA Yoga National ASANA Championship.

This is a collection of images I made for Getty Images from the USA Yoga National ASANA Championship at the Hudson Theatre in Manhattan on March 4, 2012.

See more photos of the Championship on Andy’s blog.