Teens for Food Justice Annual Gala at the Tribeca Rooftop (Manhattan)
Teens for Food Justice’s 2025 Annual Gala is a large-scale fundraising event centered around their work building a more equitable food system through student-led hydroponic farming programs in schools. I’ve worked with their team on multiple events before, so I came in already familiar with the pace, the people, and what they need out of their imagery.
This important event, held at the Tribeca 360 Rooftop, focused heavily on student and alumni voices, along with members of local government, honorees, and leadership speaking about the impact of the program. There was live music and entertainment by Broadway stars, an award ceremony recognizing leaders in food justice, and a celebrity hosted auction/raffle that raised enough money to surpass their fundraising goals.
From a coverage standpoint, it was a mix of stage moments, candid interactions, and donor-facing imagery that needs to work for press, fundraising, and future outreach. Events like this move quickly and have a lot of moving parts, so the job is to stay ahead of what’s happening while keeping everything clean and usable.
If you’re running a nonprofit event or gala and need consistent coverage across multiple events, that familiarity and trust makes a big difference. It means less explaining, smoother execution, and images that line up with how your organization actually presents itself.
Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot (click/tap to view full size and un-cropped):
To see more examples of this style of photography, visit my special events gallery >>
All images in this blog post were shot on a Nikon D850, using a 24-85mm lens, all individually post-processed in Adobe Lightroom using custom-built presets.
Jinnifer Douglass is a full-time freelance photographer based in NYC, shooting for both individuals and brands such as Google, Sotheby’s, Uber, Make Up For Ever, Squarespace, and more! Specializing in portraits, food, and special events, she works to make every piece of your social and website content ‘Insta-worthy’ with high resolution, full-frame DSLR photography and expert Lightroom editing. Interested in chatting? Leave a comment below, or send an email to info@jinyc-photo.com!