Documenting Social Distancing

I found another photographer using a similar technique to me! I thought that I was thinking quite creatively when I decided to photograph Shinya by directing him through his laptop’s webcam, but it turns out that I’m not the only one with that idea. Fran Monks also started a similar project, speaking to subjects through Skype and then photographing them. She also gets them to place their laptop where she wants them too (to control the background), however instead of taking the photo with a screenshot (like I am doing), she is using her camera to photograph her screen (you can see Monks taking a photo in the top right of every image.)

In an interview with Joshua Barajas, Monks comments on her technique, “I ask people to show me around their rooms, and then I want to have side light. And I want to try and capture some of the environment. And beyond that, I have to be much less perfectionist than I would normally be because I would be trying to frame — I quite like simple backgrounds and not too many distractions — but you can’t do that.”

What I particularly like about this work is the face that the photographer connects with the subject and learns about their story before taking their picture. I think this gives the image an intimacy, which is also reflected in the nature of photographing the inside of someone’s house.

Barajas, J 2020, This Photographer Usually Captures Hugs. Now She Documents Social Distancing, PBS News Hour, viewed 14 April 2020, <https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/this-photographer-usually-captures-hugs-now-she-documents-social-distancing>