Photo © Caleb Stein
Photojournalism - NOMINEE: Caleb Stein
Down by the Hudson
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Poughkeepsie is a small city of 32,000 people in the heart of New York State's idyllic Hudson Valley. Although it is home to a number of prosperous colleges - Vassar, Marist, and the Culinary Institute - the majority of its inhabitants are either working class or below the poverty line. There is a clear division between these two worlds. A year ago, I was in a cab from the Poughkeepsie train station when I saw a group of young men my age playing basketball on Market Street. In this moment, I realised that I was in my fourth year at Vassar and I had never walked the streets of Poughkeepsie. So I started walking home from the train station every day. I walked along Main Street and saw many beautiful buildings in disrepair and many kind locals with stories to share.
When I began photographing, I walked back and forth along Main Street. With time I became more familiar with the area and started branching out. I began running into the same people over and over again, others started knowing me by name, and I started to feel at home. So much so that I've decided to stay.
My intention with this project is to work towards a book that documents my life in Poughkeepsie and the people I have had the pleasure of encountering.
About author:
Caleb Stein was born in 1994 in London. He is currently studying art history at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and writing a thesis on Brassai's photo books and their relationship to photo books in a broader sense. Caleb has interned for Christie's Auction House in the photo department and with Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden.
Caleb was shortlisted for the Lucie Foundation Emerging Artist Award in 2015 and has shown work on LensCulture.
After graduating from Vassar (expected in May, 2017), Caleb plans to continue developing his body of work on Poughkeepsie, which he hopes to one day turn into a book.
When I began photographing, I walked back and forth along Main Street. With time I became more familiar with the area and started branching out. I began running into the same people over and over again, others started knowing me by name, and I started to feel at home. So much so that I've decided to stay.
My intention with this project is to work towards a book that documents my life in Poughkeepsie and the people I have had the pleasure of encountering.
About author:
Caleb Stein was born in 1994 in London. He is currently studying art history at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and writing a thesis on Brassai's photo books and their relationship to photo books in a broader sense. Caleb has interned for Christie's Auction House in the photo department and with Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden.
Caleb was shortlisted for the Lucie Foundation Emerging Artist Award in 2015 and has shown work on LensCulture.
After graduating from Vassar (expected in May, 2017), Caleb plans to continue developing his body of work on Poughkeepsie, which he hopes to one day turn into a book.