Chinese traveller on his way back to Shanghai on a 22 hour flight wears PPE suit.
John Hryniuk
Heidi: What have you been doing during lockdown?
John: When work came to a halt here in Toronto because of the pandemic, I needed to find a creative distraction. The need to be creative as a professional photographer during these difficult times isn’t a maybe, it’s a must.
How are you able to connect with people on the street?
I’ve been walking a lot and riding my bike around town.
How long have you been on lock-down?
This week in Canada we are entering our eighth week of a country wide semi-lockdown.
I decided to document the pandemic and the lock-down of my city in the best way I knew how, my photography skills. Little did I know that this distraction would turn into a full time on-going project. While documenting this event I’ve photographed so many interesting individuals.
Which moments stuck with you the most?
There are so many moments that capture these dynamic times. It ranges from a woman praying on the street in front of her church because it closed and to a man wearing a full on heavy respirator while shopping at Costco and a Chinese student at the airport preparing to travel back to Shanghai, wearing full personal protective equipment. These are indeed historic times we are experiencing at the moment during Covid-19 and we as artists should all try and document this in any way we know how. I hope that the photos that I take during this time will someday allow others to experience what this period in time was like. Difficult, emotional and the our ability to adapt to the change.
For more portraits, please visit @johnhryniukphotography
1 Comment
These are very telling urban images. I particularly like the b/w which makes the images more iconic. The fact that most of the images are also face on makes them more immediate, like a drawing for example. Tonally they work too, but I do not know if thease are digital or analogue. I only use digital. I live in Cambridge U.K, a historic and attractive city full of tourists at this time of year. Today it is still historic and attractive, but empty and closed up. Before I go, I think also Chris Marker’s La Jette is some where in the mix with these images.
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