I. Proposal —

For my photo project I’m going to compile photographs of my life before the pandemic, while also including photographs of more recent days in its impact on our lives. I am going to create a photo book through the Blurb Photo Book service. Most of the photographs I will be including in my photo book will be digital as most were taken with an iPhone. I did shoot a roll of film before COVID-19 resulted in city lockdowns and remote learning, so I hope to send my film to a processing lab then consider it for my book. Additionally, weather and public safety permitting, I would love to go into the city and shoot in both digital and black and white film to capture the stillness of the city during this pandemic.

I’m motivated to work through a photo book because I believe it will allow for me to tell a personal experience of how I lived and interacted with the world. Specifically, about how I noticed spaces around me, went about my day to day and tried to make the most of my last few weeks as a Bowdoin senior. With the speed of an overnight train, the pandemic turned the way in which we thought about our sense of normalcy. Additionally, this is a processing that allows me to reflect on how I have been learning and experimenting with photography. I was so used to pulling out my phone for everything but taking photos of shadows, but now I can see that there is a gift to capturing other moments, even when we are not thinking in the long run. I hope to bring my photos from the past year into the book, because it is almost a bittersweet experience of reliving those feelings and memories.

As we have mentioned in our class discussions, most generation-zers (post millennials) do not develop or have photographs printed. A photo book will be a great way to self-curate a personal experience that friends and family might ask about in years to come when they come across it. Much like I have been able to explore family photo albums, this will be something that will survive these days when the pandemic is still in our minds, but will feel even more comforting when we are back to our regular normalcy and able to see the people, places, activities and things we miss doing. For me, I feel my friendships and ties getting stronger during these difficult times as we all have a sense of having had lost something together, this photo book is going to allow me to share the pages of memories that, hopefully will give others some comfort when I share it.

II. Timeline —

04/28 — Select 20 photographs from my digital archives and think of their placement in Blurb Photo Book. Try and get into the city to shoot with 35 mm camera. Share with class and get feedback on work-in-progress.

• Photographs will be both color (digital) and black and white (film).
• Digital will be photographs pre-pandemic. Film will be the leading-to and current realities of the pandemic.

04/30 — Sending any needed film to Chicago photo lab for processing – delivery.

05/03 — Finalize decisions for photo book, length, photo organization, text or no text.

05/06 — Share Blurb Photo Book pdf file.

05/08 — Join in on the class critique/conversation!