A big part of why I love photography is the ability to document. There can be concepting and artistic vision in a photoshoot, but then there are also the photographs that are important because they represent truth and transparency in history.
Suffice to say, as an American, my life slowly started being affected around February-March dramatically as the novel coronavirus became a larger concern in our country. I normally commute into the heart of Seattle every day, and that slowly halted, as public transportation became less safe, and then eventually, our governor issued a Stay-at-Home order.
I have been taking things very seriously, and unfortunately that means that for me and many other photographers, it is a lot harder for us to take the kinds of photographs we want to. Collaborating or shooting with other people is more difficult, and not something I feel comfortable pushing the limits on, until things are safer. In the meantime, that means I get to shoot what is around me, which is the mundane. But in a time like this it is important to document all things, so we can remember this time when we are in a more fortunate position. Hopefully, people will keep safe and help to stop the spread of Covid 19, but right now, none of us know what the future holds. Concerts, my favorite pastime, are likely not coming back for a long time.
It is time to find new hobbies and time to be thankful for what we can. Also, to document. Some of the best art has come out of times of desperation and I love seeing what everyone has been creating in their environments during this pandemic.
I finally got around to that gradient puzzle.
I often cook dinner, even before the pandemic hit the US, but we’ve done a lot more home cooking since March.
My boyfriend also decided he wanted to try some cooking of his own…although we had some delicious home-made orange chicken, we also experienced a small house fire and had to replace our range. It was scary and we were very lucky things weren’t worse.
Groceries in 2020 - ours are almost always delivered now.
Max was exploring while we moved the furniture around to set me up with a desk space for my new working-from-home station.
A bird on a telephone wire outside, in the reflection of my work desk. A juxtaposition of how indoors I have become.
How to keep track that I’ve checked my work voicemail from home.
A Summer rain - a beautiful night spent on my porch. Where we spend a lot of time these days soaking up fresh air.
Drying some freshly-washed masks.
My best friend and companion while I work everyday.
My other child who likes to nap in the other room while I work.
Peeking.
I also did have a “quarantine birthday” which I suppose most of us will experience at some point. I was lucky that friends and family stopped by and I got some socializing with them from the street. It was so good to at least see some of the people I love the most even if we couldn’t hang out inside my place like normal.
Ashley visiting me for my birthday!
Shayna and Lee visiting me for my birthday!
Birthday lunch from Joli!
Here I am at 32, trying my best to look happy. There’s a lot to not be happy about right now, but for me there is even more to be thankful for and I need to hold onto that.
I’m not sure what will happen next or where my photography will go from here. “Normal” isn’t coming back - there may be a new normal one day but things aren’t going back to how they were in 2019, and maybe there is a silver lining to that. We are all learning and growing from what is happening and coming to light in this world. I hope that we can become kinder people from this experience.