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Portfolio | Photo Story: Portrait in Place Project | Photo Story: Best Gyms | Video Samples
On March 21st, 2020 the State of Illinois enacted a “Shelter-in-place” order to combat the spread of COVID-19. While my wife was in New York City working with COVID-19 patients, I was at home in Chicago caring for our two young children. In May of 2020, looking for away to document the pandemic, but unable to leave my kids or get child care, I took to photographing family & acquaintances from outside the homes they were sheltering in-place at.
The project however was shorter than I had hoped, as I ended up contracting COVID-19 from one of the families I was documenting and the shelter order was lifted soon after my recovery.
Not knowing if my wife would come back alive from New York City where she was working with COVID-19 infected patients, I took a portrait of us the day before she flew back. The idea was to document us as well as the times we were living in. This image was the inspiration behind the project.
A Catholic family, Christopher lamented on how their newest child would be baptized, “When will we be able to have our daughter baptized? Normally, that is a big celebration, with family and a party and the like. Now, we’re anticipating a private event this summer, with just godparents, possibly grandparents.”
“We went for a three week stretch where we didn’t leave our home.” ~Nick
Asked about what she thought would be a lasting memory from the lockdown, “Unfortunately, I don’t have the patience and temperament to teach and that is going to be an unpleasant memory for me and probably the girls.” ~Judy
Rob with his children Parker, Griffin, left, & Harper, right. A recent divorce made Rob a single dad of three during the pandemic. To make the situation tougher, his girlfriend had a mother who was immunocompromised that she needed to look after, keeping her and Rob apart for the shelter-in-place time.
Hannah is a native of Australia, and her parents had come to America for their grandson Yemi’s first birthday, but had to scramble and return shortly after they got here because Australia was closing their borders.
“I hate to say it’s been a good time for us, because I know others are suffering loss of jobs, income, health and in some cases loved ones, but it’s been good here. One specific memory is when we made a recipe for an Orange Crunch Cake from a place called The Bubble Room. All of us were in the kitchen, like an assembly line.” ~Cristine
Stephen who worked at a grocery store said the moment that will last with him for awhile was the day the governor announcement the order, “I literally felt a change in the air in the store as hundreds of people came pouring into my store all at once to panic shop. I had never felt anything like that before. It was like I could sense the literal change in emotion as people suddenly were shopping scared, nervous, or angry.”