When COVID-19 careened into our daily lives, my first response was a surge of creativity. My answer to change, disruption, unfamiliarity is to photograph the experience. I wanted to make a COVID-19 photo essay.
I reached out to a bunch of my family photography clients, asking if they’d allow me to photograph them in their homes, as means to document and thereby make some semblance of sense in this uncertainty. At first, my vision was just photos of them doing what they were doing in their homes. But as time went on, our days seemed to tilt toward the surreal. I felt as if I was walking in clouds. Others told me they felt fearful. Some people said things really didn’t seem that different if they stayed off social media.
The COVID-19 photo essay morphed into a collaboration, where they shared with me what felt surreal, or unfamiliar in their “normal” activities. Then we came up with an idea to reflect that feeling. One thing became clear… although we’re not all in the same boat, we’re in the same water. And the water is full of uncertainty.
There is no such thing as sure.
If you want to document this time in your lives, please contact me. I’d love to collaborate with you.