Jean Guamy’s approach to documenting the Pandemic, consists of documenting one famiy. We get to see the family at different points of their quarentine, after being infected and testing positive for covid-19. She also uses techniques, such as windows to visually showing the seperation between the family, her and the outside world. The lighting seems to be consistent trhoughout, with the lighting and tones being soft.
The first shot shows the family at the beginning of their infection. Both the mother and son seem bored and look out of the window, almost in despair. The son is in the foregroud with his arms framing his face, either side, his hands resting on top of his head. His expression is almost blank as he stares outside. His skin is very pale, making his illness more obvious. The dark grey/blue window frame makes his pale and washed out features even more contrasted. His mother is behind him to the right stood up. Her arms are crossed and she has also has a blank stare in the same direction as the sun. The majority of her is in the soft shade, with the sunlight hitting her crossed arms. The lighting seems to be from the sunlight, with most of the frame being in the soft shadows and the highlights being mostly in the foreground. The window bricks are slightly out of focus, suggesting it was shot at around f5.6. The iso is around 200 and shutterspeed 1/80. The photographer is close to the window at a slight angle, visible through the bricks being at an angle.
This shot shows the same family but also shows the daughter and cat. Although they are present in the shot, we mainly focus on the mother and son. This shot is a lot more positive than the previous. The mother looks at the son with contentment as he colours in pictures. Altough the family are still in quarantine, this shot shows them in a more positive manner. The shot has been lit by day light through a window. It seems there are atleast two windows, one from the direction of the camera and one to the far right. This image has the same soft tones and lighting as the other image, which works well as part of the series and brings a common theme, alongside the subjects. The image is shot in portrait with an iso of about 200, a shutter speed of aroud 1/80 and an aperature around f/8. I like the image as a whole and the way it shows the family being together and making the most out of lockdown.
These are all great examples of types of shots I could include in my project and how to attempt documenting my family in isolation.
Jodie Tovey PJD blog 