((PKG)) COVID / GRADUATION PHOTOGRAPHER
((Banner: Not Forgotten))
((Reporter: Penelope Poulou))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 females; 1 male))
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
Just kind of lean on that, lean on that typewriter top like that.
Yeah, like it's more comfortable. There you go. The
typewriter is killer. Beautiful right there.
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
I've been a photographer for 35 years now. This is my
neighborhood high school. And so, I just had this idea that I
would boost their spirits a little by going around and taking
pictures, creating a photo essay of this sort of forgotten class
of 2020 and we called it ‘Not Forgotten: The Yorktown
Seniors of 2020.’
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
There are five hundred seniors in the class. We're up to 200
students that I photographed in three weeks now. And
everybody comes out of their house the same way which is
they put their hand over the heart and they mouth the words,
because we can't get close, they say, ‘Thank you so much
for doing this.’
((NATS))
((Gracen Flores, Yorktown High School Senior))
We've all been very excited to get our pictures taken. Then
someone told me that during graduation, people wear white.
So, I was like, oh, I’ll save this dress for graduation. And
then, unfortunately I wasn't able to. So, I figured this would
be the perfect time to wear it. I am worried about next year
for college. I'm hoping it will start on time. I would love to
teach and I'd love to have a book published one day.
((NATS))
((Joseph Saldana, Yorktown, High School Senior))
I miss my classmates and I miss my teachers. I just really
like to go back but, you know, it's probably for the best that
we all stay home. I'm really passionate about astronomy. I
have been for a long time. Actually, it was our unit on lenses
and focal points that made me want to build my telescope
and
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Joseph Saldana, Yorktown, High School Senior))
why I wanted to put in my picture because I feel it's a big part
of who I am. I was really, really proud of myself and so is my
family when I found out I got into college. It's a really huge
accomplishment for me. I got into George Mason Honors
and I was looking forward to the smaller classes and more
seminar-based form of learning, but it's still a little in the air
how they want to continue on with the next year, if they want
to start off by virtual classrooms or go into the dorms. But I
am disappointed that I won't be able to get the traditional
college experience.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
Now that we have 200 seniors photographed, the project
feels more like a cross-section of aspirations of these
seniors.
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
All right. Let me get some disinfectant.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
I ask each senior what they're about, what they love. So, it
gives me a sense of how I should photograph them.
((NATS))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
I want to study chemistry, but I might change it to
neuroscience or psychology. I realize that I won't have my
last last day of school. I won't have senior experience which
I kind of looked forward to. And I won't have, I guess, like
my last month of fun, if that makes sense. So, it was kind of
devastating because I worked so hard. And like graduation,
it's probably not going to happen in-person for obvious
reasons and I don't think that we should have an in-person
graduation but like everyone kind of dreams of going to
Constitutional Hall and like just walking down the stage. I
don't know. I feel like my memories were kind of robbed
from me.
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
So, we're going to pretend. Ready?
((NATS))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
After some, I guess, texting with other people who already
have their photos taken, I decided that it would probably be a
good opportunity because I'm not going to have many senior
memories.
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
So, this will be like a good memory that I could show my kids
and would be like forever ingrained in my mind.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
People say, ‘It’s just the prom.’ It's not the prom. It’s four
months, the last four months of your senior year. It's sort of
the culmination of 10 years of school. It's just a project that
was meant to boost the spirits of this senior class, who like a
lot of other seniors around America, they're all the same.
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
They're all very smart. They're all very passionate. And
they all had a chunk of their senior year just evaporate. And
so, it started out to be a boost and it's gone crazy. We've
been on the evening news and ‘The Today Show’ and ‘The
Washington Post.’ I now am getting e-mails from people
from Sydney, Australia, saying, ‘Good luck to the seniors of
Yorktown High School. We're thinking about you.’ From
Sydney, Australia! It's gotten crazy.
((MUSIC))
((Banner: Not Forgotten))
((Reporter: Penelope Poulou))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 females; 1 male))
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
Just kind of lean on that, lean on that typewriter top like that.
Yeah, like it's more comfortable. There you go. The
typewriter is killer. Beautiful right there.
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
I've been a photographer for 35 years now. This is my
neighborhood high school. And so, I just had this idea that I
would boost their spirits a little by going around and taking
pictures, creating a photo essay of this sort of forgotten class
of 2020 and we called it ‘Not Forgotten: The Yorktown
Seniors of 2020.’
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
There are five hundred seniors in the class. We're up to 200
students that I photographed in three weeks now. And
everybody comes out of their house the same way which is
they put their hand over the heart and they mouth the words,
because we can't get close, they say, ‘Thank you so much
for doing this.’
((NATS))
((Gracen Flores, Yorktown High School Senior))
We've all been very excited to get our pictures taken. Then
someone told me that during graduation, people wear white.
So, I was like, oh, I’ll save this dress for graduation. And
then, unfortunately I wasn't able to. So, I figured this would
be the perfect time to wear it. I am worried about next year
for college. I'm hoping it will start on time. I would love to
teach and I'd love to have a book published one day.
((NATS))
((Joseph Saldana, Yorktown, High School Senior))
I miss my classmates and I miss my teachers. I just really
like to go back but, you know, it's probably for the best that
we all stay home. I'm really passionate about astronomy. I
have been for a long time. Actually, it was our unit on lenses
and focal points that made me want to build my telescope
and
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Joseph Saldana, Yorktown, High School Senior))
why I wanted to put in my picture because I feel it's a big part
of who I am. I was really, really proud of myself and so is my
family when I found out I got into college. It's a really huge
accomplishment for me. I got into George Mason Honors
and I was looking forward to the smaller classes and more
seminar-based form of learning, but it's still a little in the air
how they want to continue on with the next year, if they want
to start off by virtual classrooms or go into the dorms. But I
am disappointed that I won't be able to get the traditional
college experience.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
Now that we have 200 seniors photographed, the project
feels more like a cross-section of aspirations of these
seniors.
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
All right. Let me get some disinfectant.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
I ask each senior what they're about, what they love. So, it
gives me a sense of how I should photograph them.
((NATS))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
I want to study chemistry, but I might change it to
neuroscience or psychology. I realize that I won't have my
last last day of school. I won't have senior experience which
I kind of looked forward to. And I won't have, I guess, like
my last month of fun, if that makes sense. So, it was kind of
devastating because I worked so hard. And like graduation,
it's probably not going to happen in-person for obvious
reasons and I don't think that we should have an in-person
graduation but like everyone kind of dreams of going to
Constitutional Hall and like just walking down the stage. I
don't know. I feel like my memories were kind of robbed
from me.
((NATS: Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
So, we're going to pretend. Ready?
((NATS))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
After some, I guess, texting with other people who already
have their photos taken, I decided that it would probably be a
good opportunity because I'm not going to have many senior
memories.
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Galilee Ambellu, Yorktown High School Senior))
So, this will be like a good memory that I could show my kids
and would be like forever ingrained in my mind.
((NATS))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
People say, ‘It’s just the prom.’ It's not the prom. It’s four
months, the last four months of your senior year. It's sort of
the culmination of 10 years of school. It's just a project that
was meant to boost the spirits of this senior class, who like a
lot of other seniors around America, they're all the same.
((Photos Courtesy: Matt Mendelsohn))
((Matt Mendelsohn, Photographer))
They're all very smart. They're all very passionate. And
they all had a chunk of their senior year just evaporate. And
so, it started out to be a boost and it's gone crazy. We've
been on the evening news and ‘The Today Show’ and ‘The
Washington Post.’ I now am getting e-mails from people
from Sydney, Australia, saying, ‘Good luck to the seniors of
Yorktown High School. We're thinking about you.’ From
Sydney, Australia! It's gotten crazy.
((MUSIC))
