Jonah Markowitz Photography

Jonah Markowitz Photography Passionate freelance documentary photographer and cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NYC. JonahMarkowitz.com

“She Was Paralyzed by a Subway Train. Today, She’s Reclaiming Her Life.The artist Emine Yilmaz was shoved into a passing...
03/19/2026

“She Was Paralyzed by a Subway Train. Today, She’s Reclaiming Her Life.

The artist Emine Yilmaz was shoved into a passing subway car three years ago. Six surgeries later, she’s drawing again.” thank you for opening up your life to Hurubie and I. Very grateful to have been able to spend so much time with you. beautiful work. ❤️.

12/18/2025

Episode 3 of 3 - Sound on!

‘Pressured to return’
“Nioka Baptiste, 46, had been on the job for about six months when she first saw the man with the light-colored eyes. He looked her in the face before jumping onto the tracks in front of a Q train she was driving under Brooklyn. That was in August 2024.

Afterward, she could think of little else. She scanned the internet for clues to his identity and why he might have jumped to his death. Did he leave behind children? Grandchildren? Her nights were sleepless, her waking hours a daze.”

Edit
Color
Directed / shot by yours truly for

Thomas Sellers fears that his first train strike as a subway operator won’t be his last. Mr. Sellers was not squeamish. ...
12/13/2025

Thomas Sellers fears that his first train strike as a subway operator won’t be his last.

Mr. Sellers was not squeamish. Before joining the M.T.A., he had worked as an emergency medical technician, and he had encountered car crash injuries, gunshot wounds and even decapitations. But this was different.

“I have seen a lot,” said Mr. Sellers, 60. “But I’ve never been directly involved.”

Thomas went months without pay after his case handler at the MTA neglected to file the necessary paperwork. It took a judges order to receive his back pay.

He has two years left until retirement, and it’s possible that the strike in Queens will be the only time he will ever be involved in such an incident. But part of him fears that will not be the case.

“It just seems that once you have one, you might be a magnet for ill fate.”

12/10/2025

Episode 2 of 3 - Sound On!

Thomas Sellers had been lucky: In 23 years as an operator for the M.T.A., he had never hit a person.

But that changed in Queens on March 18, when a man jumped in front of the 7 train Mr. Sellers was driving. Eventually, paramedics were able to save the man’s life, but both his legs were amputated.

Thank you to who colored all three of the films. Beautiful job brother. on the fabulous edit.

‘Part of the job’Edwin Guity was at the controls of a southbound D train last December, rolling through the Bronx, when ...
12/09/2025

‘Part of the job’
Edwin Guity was at the controls of a southbound D train last December, rolling through the Bronx, when suddenly someone was on the tracks in front of him. He couldn’t stop the train time.

Stumbling over words, Mr. Guity radioed the dispatcher and then did what the rules require of every train operator involved in such an incident. He got out of the cab and went looking for the person he had struck. He found his mangled body pinned under the 3rd car.

“I didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Guity said later. “But this is a part of the job.”

A 32-year-old who had once lived in a family shelter with his parents, he viewed the job as paying well and offering a rare chance at upward mobility. It also helped cover the costs of his family’s groceries and rent in the three-bedroom apartment they shared in Brooklyn. He helps care for his 93 year old grandmother who suffers from sporadic seizures.

Please watch my previous post, a 90 second film we made chronicling Edwin’s exposure therapy, to understand his experience more deeply.

12/08/2025

SOUND ON - Edwin Guity was prescribed exposure therapy after his train struck a man on the tracks. The experience had shaken him more than perhaps any other experience in his life, and the idea of returning to work left him feeling paralyzed.

Umi Syam! I am so grateful that you landed on this project. The custom design you worked so hard on is the perfect vessel for the project. It’s treats the visuals so respectfully, I’m in awe. Truly. Thank you

‘They Witness Deaths on the Tracks and Then Struggle to Get Help’“After train operators are involved in fatal strikes, t...
12/08/2025

‘They Witness Deaths on the Tracks and Then Struggle to Get Help’
“After train operators are involved in fatal strikes, the agency that runs New York City’s subway often leaves them to fend for themselves.

The fallout from being at the controls when a subway train strikes a person — the panic attacks, the sleepless nights, the crippling guilt — can linger for years.
It is a burden that train operators in New York City know well. New York’s subway system is the setting for more train strikes per year than any other system in America.

But many other systems make it easier for train drivers to get help afterward, a New York Times examination has found.”

Please go to the link in my bio to read the stories of three courageous operators, Edwin Guity, Nioka Baptiste, and Thomas Sellers. Humbled, they trusted me with their stories. Reported and visuals by yours truly.

, what a journey. You’re a relentless powerhouse, you fought for this in ways I didn’t know possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Michael LaForgia, eternally grateful for taking this on, thank you for believing in it. Big thank you to my fellow reporters and . Bianca, the piece wouldnt have had the heft without your work, thank you!

Mamdani and at last night’s Knicks game then again at a sunrise Brooklyn bridge march with Brad Lander and Letitia Jame...
11/03/2025

Mamdani and at last night’s Knicks game then again at a sunrise Brooklyn bridge march with Brad Lander and Letitia James. Election coverage bender continues for .

“When They Go Home After Working All Day, It’s Not to a HomeThousands of working people in New York City now live in she...
04/17/2025

“When They Go Home After Working All Day, It’s Not to a Home

Thousands of working people in New York City now live in shelters, unable to afford apartments despite holding down jobs that pay them $50,000 or more.

The saddest thing I’ve seen is that people are getting priced out of New York City so badly that they are not even moving out of the city,” said Mr. Sancho-Persad, 30. “They are just getting evicted and coming to live in the shelter.”

Mr Sancho-Persad’s (photographed above) family had been climbing the economic ladder for years before the illnesses struck and swept their financial security right out from under them. In 2016, his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and in 2017, his father passed away.

His prized possession is his father’s 1980s Toyota Cressida. It’s the only thing left from his father’s lifetime of toiling as a taxi driver on the New York City streets.

“New York City is becoming more for the wealthy, and I don’t think that’s going to end well,” Mr. Sancho-Persad said. “You know why? Poor people make this city go.”

I’m very grateful to have worked with Eliza Shapiro on this story, which is truly heart-wrenching. , thank you for trusting me with this one. This city I love so much is eating itself, and it needs to be documented. Thank you also for the time to do justice to this story and the lovely edit.

‘They Help Make the Hamptons the Hamptons, and Now They’re Living in Fear’“Latinos also are an established part of the H...
02/23/2025

‘They Help Make the Hamptons the Hamptons, and Now They’re Living in Fear’

“Latinos also are an established part of the Hamptons community. In the town of East Hampton, which encompasses many of the villages at the southern tip of Long Island, Latinos make up more than a quarter of the population, according to U.S. census figures. The student population in several local schools is more than half Latino.

But to most of the world, the Hamptons are best known for celebrity-studded parties and mega-mansions that dot the seashore, such as one house in Sagaponack that has been valued at $425 million and has 29 bedrooms and 39 bathrooms. It’s a community where diner patrons wear Balenciaga booties and Aston Martin sports cars cruise past strip malls. On sale at one popular grocery store: an 18-ounce tin of caviar for $1,300.” By , Ana Ley, and yours truly for . Thanks for the call and the beautiful and thoughtful edit by

Captions: Winterized boats for sale, Prudence Carabine, “Be Seen” sign on Main Street of East Hampton, clothing for sale, hedges obscure homes along route 27, Minerva Perez ED of OLA, stone blocks white picket fence, American flag flies above Main Street in East Hampton, silhouettes in Herrick Park in East Hampton.

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