I live with two parents. They are doctors. I have worried about the health and safety of my family when my parents still had to interact with people on a daily basis. In March and April, my family was very worried about what my parents’ job meant for the health of our family. My mother, for a few weeks, wore a mask inside our home and stayed away from me and my brother due to her fear and the enigma of the virus that was still very new to everyone.
I realized there are so many essential workers and people who must continue working on the frontlines to support their families despite the fear and concern for a deadly virus.
I focused on taking portrait-style images of frontline / essential workers who stayed strong during hard times.
— Sydney Lamberson, The Lovett School, Atlanta, GA, November 1, 2020 at 7:31 p.m.
In an age where digital streaming is the easiest way to access the biggest names in the music industry, physical music is now seen as a background choice. The idea of purchasing a physical copy of your favorite album or song is an old one, and now with the pandemic slowing down many stores across the country, the idea of physical music seems to be much more of an inconvenience.
Still, people find enjoyment in vinyl, and go out of their way to go to their local record store, even during a pandemic. Vinyl has helped me get through quarantine. With all of the down time I have had, I have filled the gap by listening to album after album. I am not alone in this, judging by the amount of people I have seen shopping for physical music.
— Alan Pope, Fantasyland Record Store, Atlanta, Georgia, October 31st, 2020, 2:00 p.m.
This is a poignant reminder of small changes, building upon each other, which have reshaped the lifestyles and schedules of nearly every individual. The row of masks hanging upon the doorknob, the exit point of every home, is both a snapshot of just one of these paradoxically minute yet quite monumental lifestyle alterations.
The past year has hindered the ability to simply exit one’s house at all, and most certainly not without substantial limitations and changes, symbolized most profoundly by face masks, a focal point of the world’s battle with the virus.
The face mask may come to symbolize the COVID-19 era and the campaign against the pandemic.
— Ryan Cauwenberghs, The Lovett School, Smyrna, Georgia, 11/04/20 / 7:00AM
The image reflects questions currently on everyone’s minds about finding positivity during hard times and the long term effects of the pandemic on our country. The longer this period of quarantine lasts, the more I wonder if this will forever be the new normal.
This photo reveals how the pandemic has affected different types of people in our society. This person is going about her daily life, but slight variations can be seen from what her life looked like before the pandemic.
Masks can be seen in the photo as an encouragement to take precautions preventing the spread of the virus and also documentation of the effects of the pandemic for future reference.
— Jordan Legg, The Lovett School, Little Five Points, Atlanta, GA, November 3, 2020, 2:33 p.m.
Closed Off
As someone who is religious and finds peace and calmness through worshipping or talking about God, I was severely heartbroken when churches were closed. Not being able to sing worship songs or feel God's presence in person was hard and making that transition to virtual worship made it even harder. All of those emotions are what I feel when I look at this image. I see the ivy taking over the building and I associate that with the virus taking over all of our lives. I see the posters telling me that I can't worship as the pandemic controlling my life.
We have all been affected and the pandemic has interrupted many important things in our lives leaving us frustrated, alone, and scared.
Being a teenager is hard. We are living in the midst of a pandemic and everywhere we look we see isolation. This picture shows that feeling of loneliness and how we are trying to survive making the most out of the situation that we were dealt with.
— Megan Kahrs, The Lovett School in Atlanta, GA
I spend a lot of my time at my local gym. I swim and play basketball there. The gym I go to is one of the most popular gyms in Georgia, and it is usually packed with people.
I brought my camera one night to capture the emptiness of the gym due to the coronavirus pandemic. I was alone in the gym. I visited the pool, usually packed, it is completely empty. There was no one swimming. With the darkness you see the mystery and the eeriness of the pool. My shadow is alone in this empty place, once populated with people before COVID-19.
The world around me has transformed from being populated to empty due to the pandemic.
— Jay Joshi, Lifetime Fitness, November 8th, 2020 8:00 PM
This COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to our daily lives. It’s led to dramatic loss of human life, economic instability, event cancellations, loneliness, and much more. It’s caused us to think deeply about human rights issues, and for many of us, learn more about ourselves.
This pandemic has caused me to become appreciative of my relationships, and ponder about things in my mind.
My goal was to capture how the human spirit has changed due to this pandemic through a sporting event. In many of my photographs, I aim to display the person’s emotions. It’s up to the viewer to figure out what emotions are being displayed in each photo.
I photographed people's expressions through masks, body language and demeanor.
— Wasswa Robbins, Georgia Soccer Park, Atlanta, Georgia, October 20, 2020,1:00pm
Social outings have always gotten me through the week. The thought of spending time with my friends on Friday and Saturday nights make the week more bearable. When Covid became rampant throughout the United States I lost that interaction
Covid gave me the opportunity to try the things that I would normally “not have time to do”. I went fishing, walking, running, building, practicing things that I would never have done before. I explored new places. I walked through parks I had never been to and really tried to explore Atlanta. When shooting in Austin, I saw countless people taking advantage of their “backyard” and exploring the city, it was something I know very well.
— Reeves Bradford, Austin, Texas, November 3, 2020, 2:33 p.m.