Coney Offseason by Daniel Skwarna

Coney Island was shuttered and deserted. The Atlantic was frothing angrily, beating the shoreline and throwing walls of stinging spray at the beach and boardwalk, as if trying to topple the old Parachute Drop, standing watch over the Riegellman Boardwalk.

I still remember my decision to visit Coney Island. It was December 2013 and I made a spur of the moment plane ticket purchase to New York, my first trip.

A few months prior I had returned from a European adventure and was now bored and listless in my little apartment. After spending a month in Russia, I knew there was a large Muscovite community in New York, especially Southern Brooklyn, also known as Little Russia/ Odessa.

New York was unwelcoming – rainy, slushy, and cold. I was lonely. My apartment, a cozy walkup at 171st and Lexington felt a world away from the Manhattan core and the funky sites of Brooklyn and beyond. On a whim, I decided to take the train down to Coney Island, a monumental journey of over two hours. I was antsy and had nothing else to do in the rain.

Coney Island was shuttered and deserted. The Atlantic was frothing angrily, beating the shoreline and throwing walls of stinging spray at the beach and boardwalk, as if trying to topple the old Parachute Drop, standing watch over the Riegellman Boardwalk.

After a few minutes of this I was thoroughly soggy and having an increasingly hard time keeping my delicate camera equipment dry. I had not my day trip through particularly well. And it was now at least a two hour subway ride from the beach to my northerly rental, accounting for MTA delays.

I took refuge in the closest public washroom. Like the beach, it was deserted. I stripped down to my sodden boxers and began to dry each piece of clothing exhaustively under the hand dryer, one by one. Then each piece of camera gear, and finally the smaller accessories. Over the next twenty minutes several people walked in, eyeing me for a beat, then dismissing me as another Coney Island eccentric. I began to warm to the place as I dried out.

The rain tapered off after another fifteen minutes or so, leaving me freezing, but acceptably dry. I poked my head out of the washroom door and scanned my immediate surroundings. A few local power walkers marched straight ahead, eyes down, hands pumping. On the beach, a few intrepid Russian men jogged between groups of gulls, like Rocky Balboa.

Otherwise the place was mine. I jumped out of the washroom and rejoined the boardwalk just below the Parachute Drop, most of Luna Park now smothered hauntingly in fog, looming like a giant amusement park squid.

If you are a nostalgic sentimental like me, you will enjoy Coney Island. There is a lot of old stuff – rides, signs, and people (mostly Russian locals that came over after the collapse of the USSR). Not all of it is new, of course (an Applebee’s had opened when I last visited in 2018). But most of it has been around for a while, like Nathan’s Famous.

It was here in 1916, in the middle of the Great War, that Nathan Handwerker fired his own salvo, giving the world the hot dog served from the original Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand. A significantly enlarged Nathan’s Famous still sits on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenue, feeding the hungry beach- going masses that disembark as a giant blob from the metro station across the street.

A large part of Coney Island’s appeal in the offseason is the large empty space it offers the urban adventurer. It’s rare in New York city to have an abundance of open, and empty, space to think about the world around you. Here you have kilometres of boardwalk, a deep beach that stretches hundreds of feet from the waters edge to the attractions, and the Atlantic ocean, crawling with sharks, ocean birds, and lots and lots of plastic. You can see the horizon clearly! And the trawlers that inch along it.

As I head East along the Riegelmann boardwalk I pass the famous shuttered shops that provide so much fun and food throughout the year: Famiglia Pizzeria, Coney’s Cones, and Paul’s Daughter Take-Out. The rides sit solemn and unmoving in the mist. The Thunderbolt (which was just a sign and a large empty field when I first visited), now twists and turns like a New York politician. The Soarin’ Eagle sits brooding on it’s perch. The iconic all wood Cyclone Roller Coaster, arguably Coney’s most famous, slowly rots in the rain, waiting for the warmth of the sun and young, carefree riders to bring it to life late into the sweltering, romantic night.

Just beyond, I pass the New York Aquariam where you can hear Sea Lions calling early mornings, waiting to be fed. During the offseason, there’s really no one around save for the locals who live in the old apartment buildings that line the street. The penguins on the other side of the Aquariam wall miss their audience. The people you meet at Coney Island during the offseason come for two reasons: like me, they want to explore an area without distraction with an air of sad melancholy or b) they live nearby and moved here because of the local Jewish and Russian communities to be by the water and promenade the boardwalk.

About Daniel Skwarna

Daniel Skwarna is a multi-award winning documentary photographer and published writer. His personal work explores isolated communities, addiction, and mental illness. He has worked in the United States, Iceland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Cuba, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Serbia Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Kosovo, Slovakia, Sarajevo, Poland, and Russia.

Daniel attended the University of Toronto and holds a degree in History, Fine Art History and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations.
 Select commercial and editorial clients include: Apple, BDC, Celestica, Mercedes-Benz, Invesco, Report on Business, Fortune Magazine, Spacing Magazine, Beside Magazine and the Globe & Mail.

Recent awards include: Applied Arts, 2021 Lensculture Portrait Award Finalist, and American Photography 37.
 
 He lives in Toronto with his wife, Sarah, and daughter Lumen. [Official Website]

More Stories

The Playground Series by by Francisco Diaz & Deb Young

The Playground Series by by Francisco Diaz & Deb Young

For most of us growing up, playgrounds were more than a place for fun and games- they also provided a fast and hard lesson in how social structure works; they taught us how to be patient while we waited for our turn on the swing, while boys would chase and torment the new girl
Building by Margery Clay

Building by Margery Clay

A building, which is objectively the remains or evidence of individual and collective history, transforms itself into something more, the trace of a lived experience which allows the viewer to unfold meaning.
Natural habitat; Escape from the Museum of Zoology by Ani Zur

Natural habitat; Escape from the Museum of Zoology by Ani Zur

Civilized states are willing to finance museums where you can see rare species of fauna. Special decorations, high quality stuffed animals, made by the best craftsmen. For each exhibit the natural habitat is recreated.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

Terry Etherton – Director of the Etherton Gallery

Terry Etherton – Director of the Etherton Gallery

Etherton Gallery was founded in 1981. In Tucson, Arizona. We specialize in 19th, 20th century and contemporary photography and other media.
Abstract Photography by  Mathias Soulon

Abstract Photography by Mathias Soulon

What remains of our lost enjoyments? The line disappears and it remains that the moving dreams of our past loves, fleeting memories, sensations of the caresses under the alcove.
iTaiwan by Radu Diaconu

iTaiwan by Radu Diaconu

This project is the result of the 6 months that I lived in Taiwan in 2014 and 2015. My intent was to portray Taiwan through my iPhone, the iconic photography instrument that people use everyday to shoot their surroundings
Death flows, hope floats, life flies by Sankar Sridhar

Death flows, hope floats, life flies by Sankar Sridhar

Infamous as one of the planet's most polluted rivers, the Yamuna starts as a Himalayan glacial stream, pure and full of promise. By the time it reaches Delhi, India's teeming capital city, it becomes a foul sewage drain
Smoke That Travels

Smoke That Travels

What happens when a story is forgotten? What a long journey it's been. I started this film at 17, because I had a fear that part of my identity, my native Prairie Band Potawatomi heritage, would be inevitably lost in time.
Hindu mythology; The gracious sacrifice by Arnab Adak

Hindu mythology; The gracious sacrifice by Arnab Adak

According to Hindu mythology 'Kalappali' is a ritual, which means sacrificing in the battlefield for ensuring victory. It was believed that whoever performed this sacrifice first and with his life in front of goddess Kali will ensure victory of his side on the battlefield.
Somewhere between metamorphosis and reincarnation; Tropies by C.Owen

Somewhere between metamorphosis and reincarnation; Tropies by C.Owen

Within each photograph, the animals seem to speak to us; some are vengeful, threatening, angry, innocent, yet other are majestic and even calm.
Street’s people; Hanoi by Riccardo Magherini

Street’s people; Hanoi by Riccardo Magherini

Hanoi series was selected and published in our print edition 19. All the images of the series are quite portraits of street’s people, surrounded by their environment.
Sounds of nature by Dasha Matrosova

Sounds of nature by Dasha Matrosova

This photo shoot wasn’t created by chance. There were many reasons for it and environmental issues were chief among them.
Interview with Juan Jose Reyes, executive director of Miami Street Photography Festival

Interview with Juan Jose Reyes, executive director of Miami Street Photography Festival

The goal of the Festival is to establish a global platform for learning through exhibitions, workshops, lectures and other events. This Festival is a collaborative effort to advance the work of photographers who pay attention to everyday life in order to capture the world around us.​
New year in Russia by Katerina Churbakova

New year in Russia by Katerina Churbakova

In several regions of Russia the New Year is celebrated twice. The national republics of Buryatia, Tuva, Kalmykia and Altai, where Buddhism is traditionally practiced also celebrate the New Year according to the lunar calendar.
Protest by Mariel Miranda

Protest by Mariel Miranda

Protest is a compilation of images taken at the Women’s March in Washington D.C. the day after the 2017 presidential. These pieces represent one of the most meaningful and spiritual experiences of my artistic life.
The streets of Sao Tome e Principe by Trevor Cole

The streets of Sao Tome e Principe by Trevor Cole

A small archipelago off the coast of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, almost exactly on the equator. The second smallest African country (after the Seychelles) and a former Portuguese colony with a legacy of slavery
Exploring Kathmandu: An Untold Story by Abhijit Bose

Exploring Kathmandu: An Untold Story by Abhijit Bose

It was in July, 2007 when my flight took off for Kathmandu on a sunny afternoon from Delhi. It was my first visit to any foreign land and I was nervous. I was equally excited to visit a foreign land and that too Nepal.
With my camera; Maputo diary by Ditte Haarløv Johnsen

With my camera; Maputo diary by Ditte Haarløv Johnsen

I grew up in Mozambique. My parents moved there just after the country won its independence. They were called by an atmosphere of hope and faith in the future. At my kindergarten I would stand on the roof with fists pointing to the sky shouting
Survivors; Skin Project by Silvia Alessi

Survivors; Skin Project by Silvia Alessi

Skin Project is certainly an act of denunciation of a hideous crime still too widespread in the Indian subcontinent (the acid attack), and in fact the girls portrayed were willing to show their faces to raise awareness in the viewer.

Featured Stories

Adorned by Jady Bates

Adorned by Jady Bates

Women no longer feel the need to please the previously-ordained-in-media's "male gaze." Females are finding their voice and their own visions in how to adorn themselves: women according to women.
Monologue about Chernobyl by Raúl Moreno

Monologue about Chernobyl by Raúl Moreno

A few kilometers from Chernobyl, there is a radioactive atmosphere that can not be seen but can intuit it. Food contaminated by Cesium 137 and Strontium, these inhabitants consume daily making radioactive isotopes are deposited in their bodies gradually.
Fictional narrative photography; Birth Undisturbed by Natalie Lennard

Fictional narrative photography; Birth Undisturbed by Natalie Lennard

Birth Undisturbed is a fictional narrative photography series by Natalie Lennard, that brings scenes of natural childbirth into cinematic fine-art tableaux.
Portraits by Ewa Cwikla

Portraits by Ewa Cwikla

The power of capturing the daily instant, to have the ability to convert the ordinary into a unique moment, because her camera and her life are two indissoluble concepts.
Yolanda Garcia ; The chaos within simplicity

Yolanda Garcia ; The chaos within simplicity

Yolanda Garcia is a photographer who lives in Madrid. She has in a world of dreams, pain, laughter, and likes to externalize. She started in photography from she was a child, fiddling with cameras from their parents.
Bangladesh; Old streets old stories by Saud A Faisal

Bangladesh; Old streets old stories by Saud A Faisal

Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh and the main city of the country has a rich political and social heritage of over 400 years.This mega city has a old part which is the witness of change of time which changed the daily life of the people but the basic story of people remain the same.
Diego Bardone : Unpredictable coincidences

Diego Bardone : Unpredictable coincidences

In his eyes there's the lesson of humanist postwar French photographers: Doisneau, Boubat, Izis those he likes more but even Bresson and Erwitt are a big source of inspiration
Self-Untitled by Samantha Geballe

Self-Untitled by Samantha Geballe

Self-Untitled is an on-going self-portrait series that aims at establishing connection through vulnerability, and combating the shame that separates us from one another. Shame can be understood as the fear of disconnection.
A Hindu funerary rite in a Calcuta crematory by Joxe Inazio Kuesta

A Hindu funerary rite in a Calcuta crematory by Joxe Inazio Kuesta

Today we are going to go to a different site that will interest you, which will impress you, Rahul told me. Where? I asked. You'll see, he answered. Rahul was my guide: a boy who slept in the street. And he was right, it was impressive, exciting.
Black World by Erberto Zani

Black World by Erberto Zani

It is a dark world that millions of people are forced to work in, made of mines, dust and fear. Characterized by oppression, violence and trampled human rights; where the presence of enormous deposits of minerals transform into a curse for the people through the illegality caused by games of power and corrupt economies.
New York City² by Rokas Jankus

New York City² by Rokas Jankus

A lot of the people seemed somehow lost to me, either geographically, mentally or even physically. It’s that second before they recognise you, taking the picture, somehow giving you an intimate moment with a person you never gonna see again in your life.
Patterns, lines, textures; Urban Moods by Alex Axon

Patterns, lines, textures; Urban Moods by Alex Axon

Urban Moods is a photo project that tells the story of the city dynamism through bicycles and umbrellas captured in constant movement and surrounded by patterns, lines, textures.
Terri Gold ; Poetic infrared imagery

Terri Gold ; Poetic infrared imagery

Terri Gold is an award-winning photographer known for her poetic infrared imagery of people from the remote corners of the world. She is a storyteller who is happiest when she is in a world that is unknown to her.
Jacqueline du Pré; Madonna litta by Peyman Naderi

Jacqueline du Pré; Madonna litta by Peyman Naderi

The collection is a tribute to the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré, a famous British musician who died at a young age. In this series, I have tried not to see the female face at first, so that the viewer's perception remains without judgment, and when she begins to see the rest of the photographic works, she realizes the feelings of this dominant musician.
Conceptual photography; In Pain by Ramak Bamzar

Conceptual photography; In Pain by Ramak Bamzar

‘In Pain’ a series, exploring the subject of suffering. Pain is a universal human experience. Defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage."
Fine art photographs; Big Appetites by Christopher Boffoli

Fine art photographs; Big Appetites by Christopher Boffoli

Big Appetites (2003-present) is a a series of fine art photographs that features tiny, meticulously hand-painted figures photographed against real food environments.

Trending Stories

The fabulous emotion by Dieter Klein

The fabulous emotion by Dieter Klein

When he discovered Rosalie in the middle of an elderberry bush near the French town of Cognac, something moved very deeply in the photographer's soul of Dieter Klein. 
Wild Things by Wiebke Haas

Wild Things by Wiebke Haas

This year one of my biggest dreams came true – I met wild horses. I mean I literally stood in between large herds surrounded by prying, gentle animals. Contrary to my expectation to meet animals which are wild and untamed, I found trust, love and pure curiosity.
Emotional Skies by Isaac Alvarez

Emotional Skies by Isaac Alvarez

Emotional Skies are an ongoing series of my travel photography. These series differs from places that I've been focusing on how there's emotions that our planet produces.
Simple stories; Mysteries & Rituals by Jackie Alpers

Simple stories; Mysteries & Rituals by Jackie Alpers

My photographs are poems. Their meaning isn't always immediately understood. They are open to interpretation. Under closer analysis themes start to emerge.
Night Tales by Babis Kougemitros

Night Tales by Babis Kougemitros

The nocturnal wandering in the borderland of the city and in the far away fields is characterised by darkness and danger. However, the fear that the night ignites is tempered by the freedom it entails.
Lotus by Margaux

Lotus by Margaux

The perspective of discovering new countries and cultures was the main aspiration of this project. Drawn to capture black and white landscapes, it inspired me to communicate the dependent and integral relationship humans have with nature. 
Wake Me Up by Suvobroto Ray Chaudhuri

Wake Me Up by Suvobroto Ray Chaudhuri

Some people wake up in the morning full of energy and some find themselves fumbling for the snooze button. How you begin a day goes a long way towards how your day would end. So it is important to find ways to get off to a good start.
Monastery By Xavier Ferrer Chust

Monastery By Xavier Ferrer Chust

The Neamţ monastery, which has its roots to the 12th century, is regarded as the Jerusalem of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Driven by Esteban the great in the 15th century, the monastery precinct dedicated to the Ascension of Christ
Walls and Windows by Henrietta Richer

Walls and Windows by Henrietta Richer

This series “Walls and Windows” was shot in an apartment in Budapest, where we were staying for the New Year 2017/18. The apartment was newly renovated and each room was painted a different colour and there were many windows and paintings.
Covid era; We are building a new story by Diego Bardone

Covid era; We are building a new story by Diego Bardone

Diego Bardone, here, managed to tell us the sense of a historical moment characterized by an invisible enemy and the expected victory over it.
Freelance photojournalism; The Gentle Punks by Cassandra Giraldo

Freelance photojournalism; The Gentle Punks by Cassandra Giraldo

Five young women, dressed in colorful tights and balaclavas, entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, and began singing—“Virgin Mary, Mother of God, chase Putin out/Chase Putin out, chase Putin out.”
The Silk Route Through Kyrgyzstan by Bharat Patel

The Silk Route Through Kyrgyzstan by Bharat Patel

Since a very young age, I was fascinated by stories of the Silk Route that passed through many countries stretching from China to parts of Europe.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.