Back to 1920s at the Jazz Age Lawn Party
Some places you visit. This one you time-travel to.
Last weekend I took the ferry across New York Harbor to Governors Island for the Jazz Age Lawn Party, and the second I stepped off the boat, it was like someone had turned the clock back a hundred years. Everywhere I looked there were flappers in fringe and feathers, gentlemen in linen suits and straw boater hats, parasols spinning, and the sound of a real hot-jazz orchestra drifting across the lawn. I came with my photography teacher, Michael S., with one mission: to capture all the color, energy, and joy of the 1920s coming back to life.
Ferry to the Governors Island
Getting there is part of the magic. Cars aren't allowed on Governors Island, so everyone rides a short ferry across the harbor with the Manhattan skyline shrinking behind you. By the time we docked, the crowd on the boat had already transformed — cloche hats, pearls, suspenders, and pocket watches everywhere. I love photographing people when they don't quite realize a new world is about to open up in front of them, and the ferry was full of those in-between moments: someone adjusting a hat, a group laughing, the light bouncing off the water. It was the perfect warm-up before the real party began.
Then there's the music. Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra played real 1920s hot jazz all afternoon, and the dance floor under the trees never emptied. There were Charleston contests, dancers kicking and turning, and a troupe called the Canarsie Wobblers bringing the whole rowdy, joyful energy of the Roaring Twenties to life.
Photographing dancers is hard — everyone's moving fast, and you're trying to freeze a split second where the pose looks just right and nobody's blinking. I missed a lot of shots. But when it works, when you catch someone mid-turn with their dress flaring out and pure happiness on their face, it's the best feeling in the world. Those are the frames I couldn't wait to look at when I got home.
The guests are the best part. People spend so much effort on their outfits — beaded dresses, feathered headbands, two-toned shoes, hand fans, vintage sunglasses — and most of them are thrilled to have their photo taken. That's a photographer's dream.
What I kept chasing all day were the little details: the way sunlight caught a sequin, the pattern of a lace glove, someone's bright red lipstick against a cream-colored dress. I tried to slow down and really see people instead of just snapping. I watch the light and wait for the moment when someone's expression felt real — a genuine laugh instead of a frozen pose. Some of my favorite shots happened a half-second after people thought I was done.
The Jazz Age Lawn Party reminded me why I love photography: it lets you step into a moment, hold onto it, and share it with people who weren't there. For a few hours, everyone at that party got to be a little bit of a time traveler — and I got to bring some of it back with me.
Shot on a Hasselblad X2D 100C with the XCD 55V lens.
View of downtown Manhattan from the Governors Island