Victoria Heath is changing the way she looks at the world.

“Look at things with a different eye,” Heath, a Queensbridge resident, said. “You know, and see the beauty that's all around you.”

Heath has always enjoyed snapping photos.

"I was the family photographer, you know, when my friends and family just taking pictures of us when we're together and everything, but I never did any architectural look or scenery,” said Heath.

But once she joined a photography workshop at the Queensbridge public houses, she learned about aperture, angles, depth of field and how professionals compose an image.

"I've learned I'm more of an architectural detail person, I love the beauty of buildings. I love the different way that the buildings reflect on different angles,” said Heath.

The workshop is named the F-Stop Project, a reference to both a nearby subway line and the camera setting known as the F-stop.

More than 150 Queensbridge residents attended the sessions before the pandemic erupted.

In person instruction has been suspended but Heath and five other women continue taking the lessons online.

“We laughed a lot during classes, we really, you know, had a good time,” said Shirley Mitchell. “And it made us pay attention to the stuff that was around us.”

Mitchell, who has lived in Queensbridge for more than 40 years, found comfort and camaraderie through the workshop.

"It was a way to take your mind off what was going on around you to look for bright spots, you know, for your mental health,” Mitchell said.

That’s exactly the motive of the Josephine Herrick Project — the nonprofit organization hosting the free photography classes. Herrick taught wounded World War II soldiers photography as part of rehabilitation therapy.

“We really follow the idea that photography, learning photography, studying it, doing it gives the photographer incredible connection with the community with other people with himself or herself, to help people amplify their own voices and help give them a visual voice for their point of view,” said Miriam Leuchter, the executive director of the Josephine Herrick Project.

The F-Stop Project allows these women a chance to share a different view of life at Queensbridge, challenging the negative image some New Yorkers have of the massive public housing complex.

“We want people to know that there's positive stuff, there's beautiful stuff, different energies. There's lots of talent and beauty,” Mitchell said.

And beyond sharing their stories visually — the women are also the subject of a new documentary, “The Way I See Now,” which is being shown at the Queens Theatre.

Creating their own legacies — as they continue to document life in Queens, one photo at a time.