Photo Journal Monday: Whitney Hayes
© Whitney Hayes. From the series Summer Unseen (Ongoing).
Photos and Text by Whitney Hayes
Since 2019, I have been photographing and documenting the residents of Keansburg, NewJersey. A small, diverse shore town, it is still recovering economically from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Anchored by an amusement park, the town comes to life in the summer. Most of the images in my Summer Unseen series are snapshots of my observations and experiences, so many of which have been meaningful to me.
Many of the images from this project were published as a zine in 2022 by Pomegranate Press.
© Whitney Hayes. From the series Summer Unseen (Ongoing).
© Whitney Hayes. From the series Summer Unseen (Ongoing).
I took the above photo in the summer of 2020 in Keansburg, New Jersey. Drawn to the late day cinematic light, I happened to see these little boys playing together after eating their pizza. Recalling the ease of my own childhood in that moment, I was moved and saddened, and reminded of the tremendous impact of the pandemic on children.
They are so innocent, and it’s heartbreaking to see a bit of that taken from them. Childhood should be a carefree, unworried time, and I recalled that this generation of children has been robbed of that buoyancy by this pandemic and anxiety.
© Whitney Hayes. From the series Summer Unseen (Ongoing).
© Whitney Hayes. From the series Summer Unseen (Ongoing).
