LOCKDOWN
by
Nicole A. Camacho
Never would I have imagined embarking on a Road Trip style photo essay of New York State in 2019 would end here. The project was meant to be a fun light hearted excursion, showing a different face of the famed state. A journey I was able to take with my mother, as a mode to explore and bond. Yet one can never know the outcomes of life, and in the midst of the lockdown as so many lives were changed so did this project.
The relevance of the negative effects of the lockdown was more personalized due to the tragic stories and psychical toll my mother was coming home with from the hospital where she works. As a nurse who has been taking care of Covid infected people from the beginning of the outbreak, it has been hard coping with the losses and changes. To ease her stress, I began driving her to and from work, and was overwhelmed by the desolation I encountered everyday. This became more apparent as I began traveling back to the small towns and communities I had visited a year prior.
I wanted to make a project that showed the beauty and community of NYS, but instead I captured negative effects not emphasized and the fortitude of New Yorkers to persevere.
I would like to dedicate this project to all of our Health Care workers and many unknown faces of first responders that valiantly put themselves at risk during this time of world crisis.
And to my mother who's driving force and courageousness motivated me to make this project possible.