Ben Fractenberg
Ben is a visual producer for THE CITY. He previously worked at the Forward as a national political reporter and DNAinfo as a New York City-based reporter/photographer. He is a proud alumnus of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
During Pride month, queer and trans wrestlers found self-expression and empowerment facing off at matches organized by A Matter of Pride in Brooklyn.
It started with the inauguration of Mayor Eric Adams and a tragic fire in The Bronx and saw historic labor actions and a blistering election along the way.
See shells journey from dinner plates to docks as environmentalists and restaurateurs use mollusks to boost local ecology.
Fifteen victims of the Twin Parks Towers Northwest blaze were honored with a traditional Muslim funeral prayer on Sunday, a week after the deadly fire killed 17. Some attending demanded action to improve housing.
Eric Adams was elected mayor in a campaign season filled with plenty to hear — and see.
For many, 2021 began with renewed hope as the vaccination campaign ramped up and the city slowly reopened. The surging Delta variant, and later, Omicron, complicated the effort.
Hugs and hopes for a tourism boom greet the arrival of the first flights following the reopening of U.S. airports to visitors from 33 countries, from China to Brazil to the U.K.
“We need these playgrounds fixed,” he said after THE CITY reported more than one in 10 NYCHA playgrounds are shuttered because of unsafe conditions. Mayoral candidate Eric Adams called for swift repairs. But residents remained skeptical.
The Canyon of Heroes march from the Battery to City Hall honored health care workers, transit workers, food deliverers and other essential workers who kept the city going during the pandemic. It marked New York’s first ticker-tape salute since 2019.
The Department of Correction stopped visitation last spring at the beginning of the pandemic. Now family and friends of detainees are returning under a new system.
After documenting the Manhattan Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management’s door-to-door graduation in 2020, THE CITY returned this year to see the high school’s in-person, yet still socially distanced, revelry.
Check out views from the trail after months of campaigning in a primary made historic by the pandemic and the impending citywide debut of ranked choice voting.
From parks in Brooklyn to museums in Manhattan to a certain stadium in The Bronx, our team captured scenes of people re-embracing a city on the rebound.
Take an inside look at second-dose day at Wien House. On display: the efforts of health care workers and staff — and the human bonds forged helping some of New York’s most vulnerable residents.
For the first time in nearly a year, much of the city was eerily quiet for reasons other than solely the pandemic.
Here are some images from a year that will forever link us as New Yorkers — offering glimpses into a city again surviving by finding connections even amid heartbreak and isolation.
After months of limited social interactions, early voting brought people together — on long, socially distanced lines. Here are some scenes from the final weekend before Election Day.
While many folks have been forced apart by the coronavirus crisis, some have found ways to maintain contact.
Saheed Adebayo Aare says he was placed in an inaccessible hotel. When he returned to Wards Island, two wheelchairs — including one for tennis — were gone.
People flocked to parks, boardwalks and outdoor dining as the city endured its first heat wave of the pandemic.