A storyboard of images consisting of our new normal, sheltered in place, safe at home. Film images were shot on Kodak Tri-X 400, normal development using a Rolleiflex 2.8GX. The wet plate tintype was, of course, hand poured using UVP3 collodion and shot using a Chamonix 4×5 large format camera with a Darlot petzval lens.
Our home consists of four people, two of whom have pre-existing health issues which places us firmly in the at risk category for the coronavirus. Setting up a safe castle from which to hold up until the pandemic would pass became the overarching task back in March.
My aging mother has an apartment that is attached to the back of our home. On March 6th she shut her door to the rest of the world, us included, in order to protect herself. Taking her blood every two weeks carefully at a distance is as close as we are able to get to her these days.
As often as the weather will allow we have what I call “sunshine dates” on her back patio. She sits in her chair on the porch while I sit in the lounger on the patio and we catch up. I am able to thankfully put my eyes on her and make sure she seems to be fairing well.
We try to walk two miles most days to get outside and to keep moving.
In trying to keep myself preoccupied in the vastness of time with nowhere to go, I have picked up trying to learn watercolor. Film and alt process is a relatively new addition in my photography journey with wet plate being the current obsession and platinum/palladium printing next on the list.
The final image, which is a wet plate tintype, was taken back at the end of March when things felt much scarier and darker than they do today, a nod to the days of the plague. While we know more today, we still have to remain vigilant until a treatment is found. May it be soon.
About the author:
Shantel Rich is a photographer based in the New England area on the east coast of the US. You may explore more of her work here:
Do you have a story to tell, too ?
Project DOCUPAN is driven by the analog community, striving to record a history of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic through the lenses of analog photographers all over the globe. Click below and become a part of a project we don’t know yet how large it will grow.
Tell and share your story and help to record history in a project that has never been done before.
Do you have a story to tell, too ?
Project DOCUPAN is driven by the analog community, striving to record a history of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic through the lenses of analog photographers all over the globe. Click below and become a part of a project we don’t know yet how large it will grow.
Tell and share your story and help to record history in a project that has never been done before.
More from Project DOCUPAN:
17: Stockholm – by Astrid Robertsson
I took these photos on 35mm Ilford HP5+ and FP4+ which I then developed and scanned at home. The photos were taken with a Canon Eos 500 camera and 50mm lens in Stockholm between March and April this year when the coronavirus pandemic was accelerating in Europe.I took...
16: Submerged – by Simon Wolfson
Series taken with Ilford HP5 Plus 120 film, and a Yashicaflex Model A camera. Johannesburg, South Africa. This series, a mixture of abstract and portrait photography, represents my vision of the 2020 Covid-19 lock-down. I've entitled the series 'Submerged' after the...
15: Lockdown ‘Street Bingo’ Captured in Pinhole by Rachel Brewster-Wright
I took this series of images (Title - Lockdown 'Street Bingo' Captured in Pinhole) in Liverpool, UK on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day (26th April 2020) which I shot using medium format HP5+ at 400 ISO and Kodak TMAX 100, using an ONDU 6x9 wooden pinhole...