FIN 247 Unit 2 – Nikki Learns to Art!

Emerging Forms of Togetherness During the Time of Covid

When I was thinking about what I wanted to photograph for this assignment, I wanted to work with an idea that is familiar all around the world; that family and togetherness has been lost in so many ways and we have had to be creative to make it work in each individual family. We are all so different in our approach to following public health regulations, it is a highly politicized issue and each individual needs to find balance within their family relationships to manage mental health and protect both themselves AND their community from the transmission of the virus.

In my family, there is only me, my wife, and our two active dogs. Both of our sisters live alone and are exceptionally limited in their interactions with other people, therefore, the 4 of us spend time together including in our house and out at our favorite pub: we are a non-traditional family of four. Outside of that, we do visit with two other sets of friends and my parents, but the rules are only outside and socially distanced. We recognize that technically, visiting outside is against current health regulations in our province. We have chosen to find a way to be with our closest “family” and keep our interaction infrequent, and as safe as possible.

Resources: Readings and Reflections

I chose two resources that speak to me both from a world view and from a Canadian view; the article from CBC on family isolation portraits and the National Geographic on a world paused by Coronavirus.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/03/these-photos-capture-a-world-paused-by-coronavirus/#close

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/these-canadian-photographers-are-capturing-life-during-covid-19-one-family-isolation-portrait-at-a-time-1.5509813

When I was a kid, I had a subscription to National Geographic and it continued into my twenties, until I didn’t want to haul around those magazines anymore. I was fascinated by the photography and learning about different places in the world. This hasn’t changed and I am 50 years old. It’s strange, I always considered photography an art that you had to be born talented for, I would see something beautiful or weird or shocking and say “I wish I was a photographer so I could capture what my mind is seeing right now”. In my first year of design, I have learned that the arts are so much about skills and concepts and perseverance, that I too, can learn to do these things. These photograpers in this article, mostly in quarantine or isolation, have learned to find “Quiet Magic in the Everyday” (Alicia Johnson, photographer). I am the type of person that easily finds magic in the everyday, and I hope I can learn to take pictures of what I see.

The second article by CBC really struck a chord because I still see the joy in these family isolation portraits, and I fear that after all this time, the joy is lost. It has gone on too long. These photos were taken last March, when yes, we were all very scared, but we had no idea that almost a year later we would still be inside our homes, precious time lost with young and old family members. In our family, we have missed a trip to Ontario to see our nieces and our one great niece, and now she has a sister. It is possible at this point in time we may not be able to go this summer, either. This provided some inspiration for me so I asked our great niece (she is 5) to send us some drawings in the mail. These drawings will be part of my photo essay.

Project Proposal Outline and Test Shots

Concepts and Ideas

I have chosen to photograph the people we see in the settings that we see them in; neighbors over the fence, our friends that have a huge property so we go to walk or work with them outside, our best friends by a huge fire, and my parents having a weiner roast at our house, all bundled up and joyful to see us even though we don’t kiss or hug. Most Thursdays, “the 4 sisters” go to our local pub, we know the servers now by name.

I have organized my shot dates and warned my subjects it may have to happen more than once, with the exception of a last shot in Parksville (we have planned a 1 night getaway on March 5) , this shot will represent the time with my wife.

Production Approach

I intend to do test shots at the time of day that I will actually take the shots, so I can figure out the lighting beforehand. In terms of elements, I want to use a small bit of color (yellow) in most shots, if not all, to represent the tiny bit of happiness in most situations. At this point in time, I have 9 shots planned. I hope to begin the series with an opening image and I will experiment afterwards. My plan is for my opening image to be the drawings of my great niece, but I am still thinking about the composition of that photo to make it a tiny bit more clear what it is about. I am also really interested in texture, and I am hoping that one of my fire shots can focus on the texture of a piece of wood, with my best friends’ hands in the background feeding the fire. My plan is to create some contrast between the different compositions using scale. For example, one of my shots includes a tractor, and one includes a rubber duckie. The question is will it be more interesting to reverse the natural scale? A big rubber duck and a small tractor? One of my shots is our neighbours standing at the fence. The family is the two older parents, and the young mom, dad, baby and ten year old. I want to make it casual and informal, and will include my yellow coffee cup. I am hoping to take this shot from an angle to make it more casual.

Shot List: