Photo Essay
& Reflection
I took this picture in October and it was just outside of my dorm. In the background of this temporary fence there is large scale construction going on. I assume that this is a new dorm building to adjust for lower capacity requirements in current housing options. I wanted this picture to represent that everyone is adjusting to current times and that it requires collective efforts to make change (similar to construction where you need the help of many to accomplish anything).
This is a picture of my mother taken in late November when I first got home. She and my father had just recovered from Covid, but we decided that we should still distance ourselves to be safe, which was very difficult because we had not seen each other in so long. I wanted to portray how the pandemic is affecting people’s lives in so many different ways.
I took this picture of masks hanging on my rear view mirror in October. I took this picture to show how you need to bring a mask everywhere you go and that it has become so important that you do not leave the door without one. It is an item that you keep close like your phone, wallet, or keys.
I took this picture when I went to a restaurant with my home friends in late November. I took this to show how rules have changed and you are not allowed to do something as simple as going to the bathroom at restaurants with the greater good in mind. Also, you can see that the parking lot is quite empty, indicating how businesses are struggling.
This is a picture of a glass skull decoration at my friend’s house. I took this picture in early December. I thought that this picture could encapsulate the importance of wearing a mask and how it can mean life or death for many high risk individuals.
This is a picture of my friends Ben and Geoff from just before Thanksgiving. I took this picture to show how we made sure to be extra careful when we got home from college since some of our friends were having Thanksgiving with their grandparents and wanted to make sure that they were not exposed to covid. I wanted this picture to show people how the pandemic has changed our ability to gather with our friends the way we traditionally would when returning home from college.
The first picture in my photo essay shows the construction that was going on outside my dorm, which often made it hard for me to get from place to place since I had to walk around it. I definitely was not expecting this, but it certainly helped to keep me active by making my walks longer. The second photo is of my mother, who had just started getting better after being sick with covid. I certainly was not expecting my parents to get covid while I was at college, but they ended up both getting very sick. This meant I was not able to see them right when I got home. This was especially difficult for me, since I had not seen them in a very long time. This was especially unfortunate because they were still quarantined during Thanksgiving and I had to spend the day alone. I was certainly not anticipating this, but I was able to cope by calling my parents and sister frequently and also by hanging out with old friends. The third and fourth pictures of masks and restaurant regulations were contrary to my expectations for college. Last spring I was hoping that by the time college started that covid was going to be under control and that there would have been a solution or effective course of action by then. By the time summer was ending and I had realized that things had not become much better, and I began to worry that I was not going to make any friends or be allowed to do anything fun. While I ended up spending most of the weekdays in my dorm, since I did not have any in person classes, I was also able to find a great group of friends and do more fun activities than I expected just before going starting college. Scholars classes also really helped me stay connected with other people. Class did not feel like class at all, but felt more like a relaxing time where I could unwind and listen to what other people had to say and see what was going on in the world on Tuesday afternoons. The fifth picture of the glass skull and mask represented how people’s small actions, like wearing a mask, can have immense effects on other people’s lives. It also represented how my parents got sick with covid and my mother had to go to the hospital and was in great danger. Also, for me the glass that the skull is made of also kind of symbolized how fragile life is. The last photo is of a couple of my home friends. We were not able to hang out like we regularly do when we first got home because some of us were still waiting on covid tests and others could not risk getting sick at all since they were seeing their extended family for Thanksgiving. This is not at all what I was expecting just a year ago. In my head we would have been celebrating together and really hearing about each other’s college experiences in the same room.