Portrait Projects
Between June 2021 and June 2022, while the world was still reeling from the Pandemic that engulfed us all, my husband and I traveled the Great American Loop in our small motorboat. This 6000 mile journey travels along the rivers, canals, lakes and intracoastal waterways of the eastern United States. Along the way I met many people whose lives were linked to the water and I was curious how they fared during the COVID lockdowns. I asked them: “what did you learn about yourself during the Pandemic?”
S, Dockhand, Panama City Beach, FL
Honestly, in this particular part of Florida, it didn’t really affect us in terms of the actual lockdown. The only negative experience I had was getting chased off the beach when the beaches closed. But otherwise, especially in the Panhandle of Florida, we had very little experience of the lockdown. In some of the cities, some of the buildings and public offices closed down temporarily but that was for a short time. As a whole I thought it was kind of being blown out of proportion. I felt that particularly government agencies, were just making it a bigger issue that what it really is. I think it’s a sickness and it’s very bad and obviously can be deadly but it’s ultimately something that humans have to live with and we have to get on with it and we can’t live in fear.