Commercial Photography for ElectrifyNY’s Clean Truck Advocacy Campaign

This fall I had the opportunity to photograph a new billboard campaign for ElectrifyNY, a statewide coalition advocating for a clean, equitable transition to zero-emissions electric vehicles across New York.

The campaign focused on communities in the Bronx impacted by truck pollution from mega-warehouses and heavy freight corridors. These neighborhoods experience disproportionately high exposure to diesel emissions — and higher rates of asthma among children.

Documenting Advocacy at the Source

We photographed volunteers and advocates near busy highways and warehouse facilities, grounding the imagery in the physical spaces where pollution is concentrated.

Rather than staging generic environmental portraits, we leaned into context:

Active freight routes
Massive warehouse façades
Passing truck traffic
Sunset silhouettes with motion blur from red taillights
Low-angle “hero” compositions positioning advocates as larger than the industrial backdrop

At one point, standing in front of a warehouse, someone remarked, “We’re bigger than the building.”

I crouched lower and shot upward.

They are.

Conceptual Problem Solving On Site

One key consideration during the shoot was avoiding visible corporate branding on warehouse buildings. We wanted to keep the focus on public health — not inadvertently promote or denigrate a specific company.

During prep, I mentioned it would be powerful if we had an inhaler to hold up and obscure the logo — visually tying pollution to asthma in a single frame.

As it turns out, one of the volunteers had one.

That image became one of the strongest visuals from the campaign: an inhaler covering a logo on a warehouse tied to truck traffic in a community where childhood asthma rates are significantly elevated.

Sometimes the most effective commercial photography happens when concept and reality intersect in real time.

Why Environmental Justice Photography Matters

ElectrifyNY is a coalition of environmental justice, public health, labor, and transportation advocates working toward a zero-emissions transportation future in New York State. Their work centers on improving air quality and public health outcomes for communities disproportionately affected by fossil fuel dependency.

Photographing advocacy campaigns like this requires more than technical execution. It requires:

Sensitivity to community impact
Awareness of messaging implications
Visual storytelling that aligns with policy goals
Flexibility to adapt on site
Strong collaboration with organizers and volunteers

Billboards demand bold, legible imagery. But they also demand emotional clarity.

In this campaign, that clarity was simple:

Truck pollution harms communities.

Commercial Photography for Advocacy and Public Impact Campaigns

As a commercial photographer working across New York and the Northeast, I collaborate with advocacy organizations, nonprofits, and mission-driven businesses to create visual campaigns that resonate — whether for billboards, digital ads, social media, or print.

When strategy, story, and environment align, the result is imagery that does more than illustrate a message. It amplifies it.

If your organization is launching a public-facing campaign and needs photography that combines narrative depth with strong graphic composition, I’d love to talk.

contact LB