Portraits at a Distance, COVID Portraits Project

     It started with an inspiration from a colleague who had begun porch portraits in the mid-west.

I was inspired and decided, before I could bog myself down in over-analysis, that I would plow forward and do it.

     I would figure out what this idea meant for me in real time as I worked it.

     It has become Portraits at a Distance, Our Lives During the COVID Pandemic.

     Distancing Together.

     What does life look like in this moment?

     Start with simple portraits or with activities that have to become a home-bound thing and, while I'm at it, make sure that I am being safe, respecting my and my subjects concerns for space, distance and

any other rules that anyone needs to impose in order to feel comfortable. And yes, most of the time I am wearing a mask now, regardless of distance. The only other rule for me, this is art, listen to suggestions from my subjects and from that artistic voice in my head, and follow it. see where it leads. So far it has led to some interesting places. I am hoping that it leads even further.

     In the beginning, I wasn't exactly sure where this was going or what I thought it should look like, so I started with family.

     The project very quickly told me what it should look like.

     Portraits through glass, mom and son out for a walk, a family enjoying each other in the front yard with chalk, bubbles and blended super-hero costumes, a karate class in the only place with room for social distancing, their parking lot, bagpipe practice in the cul-de-sac.

     I wondered whether I would continue once the initial "lock-down" was over.

     I have continued, although at a slower pace.

     I am open to new ideas and new subjects, in my effort to document this time from my own photographic perspective.

     Let me know if you'd like to join in.