Lazarde Photography

Golden Gate Bridge / San Francisco

Lady Liberty 🗽

New York / October 2024

Ellis Island closed 70 years ago in 1954 after processing 12 million immigrants from 1892.

My great-grandfather, Raffaele Esposito, entered here at the age of 20 and began our family’s new history escaping fascism, famine and economic collapse in southern Italy.

It was an honor to stand where he stood with all the excitement and fear he must have felt.

And pride. Pride of the success of his amazing choice for all of us that followed.