Getting the Party Started at the People’s Ball in Brooklyn

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The People's Ball at the Brooklyn Museum promised to be fabulous: a democratized, free version of the $35K per ticket Met Gala, inviting New Yorkers to dress up and party the night away in Brooklyn's Central Library. I haven't been at a party since the pandemic began, so when the New York Times asked me to photograph the People's Ball, I happily said yes. I imagined Great Gatsby-like festivities with low lights and loud music, disco balls and confetti, dancing, and steamy intrigues in library corners. The reality looked slightly different.

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On entering, a long line of party-goers was patiently waiting for their chance to be photographed. Then, they proceeded to the main hall of the library which was bright and unadorned. There was barely any music and zero confetti. In a corner stood a lonely pole on which a scantily-clad woman was twisting herself into strange shapes. I couldn't help feeling that she got lost on her way to a Burning Man party and accidentally ended up in the somber, sterile space of the library. In an adjacent room, where an assembly food setup mimicked a high school lunch line, someone decided it was a good idea to grill onions. The smell was drifting into the main space and since I get nauseous at even the slightest whiff of an allium, I had to avoid the whole left side of the hall. The announcer on the stage was periodically leading the crowd in the chanting of affirmations, which brought my introvert self back to a traumatic month in a summer camp where I hid in the bathroom each morning to avoid joining hands in a group mantra.

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I get it: the party was free and my Great Gatsby vision was sorely misplaced. But just a few tweaks would have made it a much more fun affair, like dimming the lights and avoiding serving the most noxious vegetable on the planet. After downing a glass of wine, I had to make some choices. Do I photograph the people all dressed up, standing around and looking bored, or do I create an aspirational version of reality?

This is the red pill version.

And this is the blue pill one.

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After my second glass of wine, I decided to go with the latter. Brief spurts of music were hinting at the possibility of some fun. The atmosphere got tipsier and people more animated. Many took to the runway in the middle of the floor to show off their glamorous outfits. Couples were making out. There was enough material for me to play with.

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Photographing a party is always about isolating. I spend the first hour mostly observing and deciding which story I want to tell. For an event that is full of frenetic energy, I work on capturing the spectacle through unguarded moments and social interactions. With more subdued happenings, I focus on specific people and details, approaching the story more as a fashion shoot than a documentary one. The shots are vertical and much tighter, while using an off-camera flash to throw the rest in deep shadow. The resulting fragments only hint at the party's atmosphere, seducing the viewer into believing it was marvelous.

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Of course, many attendees would vehemently disagree with the notion that the People's Ball was anything but a great time. All else aside, people were happy to shake off the last two years of the social dead zone and be around each other again, dressed up and mingling and taking selfies. Photographing this party made me realize just how much I missed socializing. And honestly, onion smell notwithstanding, I was very happy to be a part of it all.

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