Here are some images new/old I’ve scanned recently. Experiences over the pandemic and before. Mostly during. Also working on some ideas for a zine that, may or may not ever see the light of day. Love to all who’ve taken the time to reach out and give this a look.
A year ago today...
I was seated at a bar in JFK airport drinking a 13 dollar Modello. Incredibly nervous about things I’d been hearing about the virus and how bad it actually could get. There wasn’t too much information at the time, but you just knew it was something that would become quite serious.
I’m not an easy flyer by any means, but this really had me thinking of a million different scenarios. So, needless to say, I had my share of beers before boarding the flight.
The trip was: JFK > Dublin > Glasgow > Dublin > JFK.
I’d never been over to Scotland/Glasgow before and was anxious to get over there and meet some people that would go on to become great friends.
It was an incredible week in Glasgow. Gall and Clare were incredibly generous with their time and it was filled with great conversation, people, food and plenty of drinks. Getting to see Loch Lomond was a highlight, as well. Not pictured, but also going to see Celtic for the first time was something that I’ll not soon forget. Can’t wait until its safe to get back there….
After departing Glasgow, I was headed to Dublin to meet up with a couple of friends to drive across to Dingle and stay for a couple of days.
Arriving in Dingle was really a wild sight. Seemed incredibly empty and you could feel the collective nervousness, in a way. We were keeping up with the news and it was ramping up, but still didn’t see much change to every day life over there. Masks in public weren’t a thing yet. Social distancing wasn’t as big a thing yet. It was just everyone trying to get a grip on what was happening and get more information. There really wasn’t any type of guidance as to what to do and how to act.
The third day or so in Dingle I remember waking up around 3 AM to a bunch of text messages saying “Good luck getting home…” This was when the “travel ban” was set in place. Not knowing it didn’t include the UK/Ireland at the time, I woke everyone else up and we talked about what to do.
We ended up cutting the trip short in Dingle and we were going to drive to Dublin to see if we could get an early flight home. No luck. Everything was booked and flights home were 1000s of dollars more on top of what we had already paid..
In the end, we stayed the rest of our trip. Took the rest of that day and went to Howth. Eventually got to a fairly deserted Dublin and all cultural sites were closed down. Only thing open were the pubs. Not the worst thing in the world, but it was really hard to feel like we should be enjoying ourselves.
Getting home, I just felt exhausted, depressed and a sense of guilt. I think the first two months after returning I didn’t leave my apartment.
It’s hard to comprehend this was only a year ago. And how much pain and suffering has taken place throughout world since then. Seeing these photos is like mourning a past life…
On a personal level, the year has been a mixture of highs and mostly lows. Found it hard to celebrate any type of personal highs because of what the rest of the world was going through. Everything felt like it didn’t matter. But, I consider myself lucky to have such great friends and family to be there for me when things seem too much.
I am looking forward to the day when it’s safe to head back and see the friends and the places I love very much.
Winter // B & W
I started taking photos around the age of 15 or so. Mainly shooting in black and white and developing myself in the darkroom at school. I’d bring my camera everywhere and shoot photos of friends or bands, etc. Even just snap shots of things I wanted to see photographed, however simple they seemed.
Having just picked up a Canonet 28 and some Kodak Tri-X, I took it out for a spin in various places around the village I live, the beach and a park upstate here in New York.
The results below are from December and January of 2020/2021.
When I first started venturing out into the world this summer, after lockdown eased a bit, I’d go to the beach.
I’d go every day after work around 5:30 or 6pm and I’d sit around long enough to watch the sunset. As it got closer to sunset, the surfcasters started to show up and line the beach at the shoreline. Some looked to have been set up all day. Families sitting in beach chairs, children playing in the water or running around the sand trying to get away from their mothers who were chasing them.
It was so peaceful. It felt normal and that’s what I was looking for. It’s usually what I look for when I go to the beach. Some sort of normality. It’s always there for you. The weather might change, but the feeling remains the same.
I eventually started to bring my camera to capture some of the surfcasters. I never wanted to bother them. Just wanted to capture the serenity in their routine. Simple compositions of people trying to forget the day or just relax for a while at the end of it.
This is my favorite from the images I took.
Greetings.
In search or something outside the space of social media to share images and words.
As I’m sure most of us can empathize with, it’s becoming increasingly tough to be on social media. It’s even more difficult to share images/work and have it feel any other way than frivolous and unimportant.
So, hopefully I can make this a place where I can create a “feed” of images/words similar to Instagram, but without the added noise.
Appreciate anyone who wants to come along for the ride..
eddy.
