Flowers along the ‘Sconset Bluff Walk, Nantucket

Caption: In summer on Nantucket, visitors to the island descend into a canvas where pastel colored flowers spill over picket fences and climb the roofs of weathered shingle cottages. It can feel like an escape into a fairy-tale setting. Photograph made on July 8, 2025.

Bio: Erin Schaff is a photojournalist for The New York Times. She is based in the Washington, D.C., area, but covers visual stories across the country.

Erin covers just about everything, but is most drawn to telling personal stories that help us better understand larger issues that can sometimes feel overwhelming in their scale. Erin was born in New York City and raised in Red Hook, N.Y. She studied political science and women’s and gender studies at Kenyon College, originally intending to pursue a career in government and legislation. She spent the first eight years of her career as a political photojournalist working to bring readers behind the scenes of Congress and the presidency. In 2021 she became a photographer at large and has contributed to most sections of The Times.

Size: 18x24 Print

Photographer's Website: https://www.nytimes.com/by/erin-schaff