WINDOWOLOGY | New Architectural Views from Japan

Camilla, Newton, Massachusetts, 2020 
I had been photographing Camilla's older sister and her family for about an hour. Camilla who is 4 years old didn't want to cooperate or be part of it. When I was about to leave, she stole the show by throwing herself at the window, and I was scrambling to get my camera back out. I love how the flowers and the greenery were reflected on her, symbolically making it seem as if she is standing in a bed of pink flowers while in reality she is confined inside.

Marie, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2020 
Marie reached out to me when she saw that I had been making portraits during Covid-19 through windows. We couldn’t have coffee or chat – we had to connect through a barrier (window) but I love how the outside was reflected into the window. If I moved a bit one way or the other I would see my own reflection on her, connecting us metaphorically. It felt as if she was outside and inside at the same time.

Lucy, Boston, Massachusetts, 2020 
Kids were all home during the early days of Covid-19 and the lockdown. Families were home together, with kids being homeschooled and parents working from home and playing teachers. It was important for me in this project to include families, kids, and a variety of age groups as we were all in this together. This particular image expresses what kids are going through stuck inside for days on end – boredom and restlessness as they cannot go outside.  

Leyla, Somerville, Massachusetts, 2020 
Leyla is the daughter of a friend of mine. She is fourteen, on lockdown and studying from home. They live on the second floor of a two family house and I photographed her at the front door through the glass pane. The lighting was beautiful and her face seemed to be tying the whole outside together through the reflection.

Julianna, Lynn, Massachusetts, 2020 
Julianna and Christian were supposed to get married in April. Their wedding kept getting postponed because of Covid-19. I suggested to that I photograph her through the window in her wedding gown. I couldn’t post the photograph or share it because she didn’t want Christian to see the gown before they got married. They eventually got married on Labor Day, so now the photo is out in the world!

Ruth, Boston, Massachusetts, 2020 
Ruth is 10 years old originally from Ethiopia and adopted since she was a baby into a loving family in Boston. She is composed and her eyes wide and piercing despite the chaos of the reflection of the leaves around her. She is biting her lip, a gesture her mom said she did since she was a baby. The leaves outside and in the reflection are framing her beautifully, blurring the sense of inside and outside.

Marina, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2020 
Marina is a friend of mine whom I had photographed a few times in the past. She had cancer and I photographed during a chemotherapy session. She always has an incredible Diva-like presence in the photographs, whether she is going through chemotherapy, or being locked down during Covid-19. I love that she never lost her sense of self no matter what is happening in her life, and that she dressed up for the shoot – elegantly filling the window frame.

Minty, Kayla, Leyah, and Layla, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2020
Minty, the mother, is here with her 3 daughters ages 9 through 16. I showed up at their window and met them for the first time all huddled together greeting me from across the window. It was absolutely breathtaking how they posed themselves very naturally. It felt that during Covid, many families got closer and learned to live together again in very close quarters with kids and parents all stuck at home.

Sloan and Spencer, Newport, Rhode Island, 2020 
This is a bit later during Covid-19 as can be seen by the lush greenery. My favorite photo of the shoot happened when they (and I) thought we were done! Spencer on the right was stretching and didn’t know she was in the photograph, and Sloan was distracted by what was going on inside and was calling her mother. That was it and I quickly reacted by making that photograph.

Nadav, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2020
I was photographing Nadav’s mother when the sun started setting and I saw him in the background (inside) wearing the blue shirt that matched the sky. I asked him to get closer and the sense of inside and outside was blurred with the outside reflected onto the glass, and his face partially obscured by the reflections. I am outside looking in but we are able to communicate and connect, and create art together despite the physical barrier between us.

Amy, Grace, and Harper, Newton, Massachusetts, 2020 
Amy is the mother of Grace, 17 and Harper, 9. The family was all quarantining at home during Covid-19. Grace was a senior in high school and had to forego all the celebratory milestones. Harper was 9, being homeschooled. I loved how they are all somehow physically connected. The outside is reflected onto the glass where one can almost think they are outside. In a way I am looking at what they are looking at outside.