I need to be honest with you. This shoot started with me dragging my family outside to a field (near a place my teenagers call the "crackhouse" which both terrifies and fascinates me) and ended up with me walking home alone because it didn't go well. Primarily, because my family had no interest in posing.
But that's fine. (It's fine! Everything is fine!). On the way home, I found lots of things that were more than willing to pose for me. Like the cherry tree, or the clocktower. Or those random, interesting-looking people walking away from me who didn't know I was photographing them. I shot some iconic places in town. I found places I didn't even know existed. I captured empty streets and quarantined parks. All are beautiful, and all are a little bit sad.
The sun was setting behind the mountain when I started my walk. The temperature had dropped, but only a bit, so it was a lovely stroll home. It gave me time to observe and reflect and to get over my family's reluctance to feed my obsession. It gave me time to notice that the only people I passed were small, family groups, but they all were smiling. And by the time I got home, only pinks and oranges were left hovering above the Blue Ridge Mountain peak.
