I have been inspired by a photographer who has published many editorials with the New York Times.
This photographer considered the fact that they may never shoot another subject face to face again.
They began projecting the Zoom calls and contact during the quarantine and photographing them. I learned about his new process after seeing an editorial he published in the New York Times. It’s incredible, the images are haunting and documentation of an era no one will forget.
Everyone is faced with doing things differently and the phrase ‘New Normal’ is being blanketed onto everything. I had a string of deaths in 2019 and learned of this phrase as a survival mechanism for grief.
I had surgery and lost my mentor, a dear friend, my 25-year-old nephew, my stepfather, and my dad in a 12 month period. I delayed going to group therapy because I had a movie-style image implanted in my brain of a room full of old ladies mourning their husbands after 25 years of marriage. I am on the other side of all of these losses and also on the other side of the pandemic. I found a group that wasn’t anything like I had imagined and I am developing coping mechanisms that define my new normal.
Going to the dentist, I had to last week because a tooth broke and the appointment was made 30 minutes longer with new procedures. Spraying of hands, a mask, taking my temperature three times, a form filled out, filed with my file, and a list of questions I had to reply too then another spraying of my hands as I got up out of the chair. My mask had to be on when I got in and only removed and replaced when asked.
In considering what a new normal might be for a photographer I adopt this idea and begin to reshoot my printed fashion images on a black background. I have to wait until very late at night because the season has changed and the light is here longer than before. I like the look of them and the reason why I am doing this.
Maybe this is a connection that I can continue to create.
I used black acrylic paint to cover the remainder of the pages I had in a sketchbook. I had over 20 pages to work with so I set aside 18 to paint continuous line drawings with a white liquid kind of like white-out. I did the drawings and knew I left behind the other black pages for a reason. I also had about 6 I had done in red.
Thinking about maybe not shooting in person, in-studio anymore I put it up against a road sign I had found last week and started to project images. I put my camera on a tripod, figured out my exposure, and shot over 100 of my images. I worked that way for a few evenings straight, thinking back through the shoots I had done here in Vancouver in my bachelor apartment I call my studio and the one I had in Toronto on Eglington East above an Italian restaurant I could often hear ‘happy birthday’ being serenaded occasionally.
Now we are told to sing ‘happy birthday’ twice during a correct hand wash so maybe its time to change the way I shoot. Or change it for now until I can resume my documentary photography
Using my drawings to create images I transfer onto clothing is something I feature in my Etsy Shop
A friend of mine is moving from the city to the island and did a big purge, she put items up on Instagram that were going to the curb so I shouted out when she listed a Canon Pixma printer that was due to hit the pavement any moment. I got her to hold it for the night and found a set of ink on the interwebs for $20 and dug out the paper I could print on. I went over there with another friend who is fond of thrifting and we both left with more than we had expected.
I let my friend know we were on our way to Value Village and could take anything with us (in the truck we pulled up in) so she gave us a huge bag of clothing for donation and offered us whatever was left on the kitchen table. I love reusing and repurposing and that is my main focus behind the clothing featured in my Etsy shop.
I have since made a bunch of 8x10 prints of these images and am planning on combining them with my drawings (also printed on regular paper) to create collages. Stay tuned for how they will take shape.
What does change look like for you? In your job? In your home? In your family?
Do you have an art practice that is changing because of the pandemic?
Are you inside looking out for a way to move forward?
I’m here if you want to figure it out together.
