"Inside Lives" Project / by John Ritchie

The past year has been extremely challenging as we’ve faced the Coronovirus and the social distancing imposed by it. As we move into winter, social distancing will turn into isolation when there’s little daylight and the weather turns bad, forcing people to retreat into their homes and wait for better times. I’m taking advantage of these long dark hours to work on a new project that I’m calling “Inside Lives.”

With “Inside Lives” I make photographs of people in the privacy of their homes, illustrating aspects of their lives not seen by others. The photos are all taken at night from outside the house, peering through windows into the home. I hope to capture the uniqueness of people in their private lives, especially as they cope with isolation, and do it in a way that both adheres to and features social distancing. The photographs should be true to their subjects, somewhat voyeuristic, show unusual (even weird) activity, and may be moody, disturbing, or funny.

I’m using volunteer models and have done several shoots already. Recruiting people to work on it with me has been a challenge due to the Coronavirus-imposed lack of social engagement. Photo shoots are fun for all, take a look at what I’ve done and please consider volunteering!

I plan to do as much work on this as I can during winter and spring while darkness is readily available then start showing the work next year. Of course this schedule depends on how rampant the Coronavirus becomes this winter and how much contact it allows. I’m keeping as safe as I can during the shoots but if we need to quarantine at home it’ll make it hard to do anything.