American Photography 37 Winners

Masked

Hannah Conradt. Masked. April 2020. When I started this series in April, the city was empty. The only people on the street were essential workers. I met firemen, nurses, construction workers, police officers, letter carriers and many people delivering anything and everything from food and medicine to random packages. Everyone was afraid, but these men and women didn’t have the luxury of staying home, they were the only thing standing between us and chaos, providing essential goods and services at great personal risk. I felt compelled to get out of my comfort zone and to document them. They deserve endless credit for keeping our city going, for preserving our social fabric and relative normalcy. We are forever indebted to them. My close-up series generally focuses on eyes. Eyes say so much about our hopes and dreams, our fears, our loves, our suffering, our shared humanity. It was fascinating to see faces reduced, to notice how our minds automatically try and fill in the blanks, try to visualize the rest of the hidden face, the hidden expression just below the surface. As the streets became busier again, we set up our studio all over the city, 6 feet apart, masked, one and all. Let's hope these pictures will be outdated soon, just a distant reminder of a time and place, a dark history which unites us all.

Masked

Tiffany Collins. Masked. April 2020. When I started this series in April, the city was empty. The only people on the street were essential workers. I met firemen, nurses, construction workers, police officers, letter carriers and many people delivering anything and everything from food and medicine to random packages. Everyone was afraid, but these men and women didn’t have the luxury of staying home, they were the only thing standing between us and chaos, providing essential goods and services at great personal risk. I felt compelled to get out of my comfort zone and to document them. They deserve endless credit for keeping our city going, for preserving our social fabric and relative normalcy. We are forever indebted to them. My close-up series generally focuses on eyes. Eyes say so much about our hopes and dreams, our fears, our loves, our suffering, our shared humanity. It was fascinating to see faces reduced, to notice how our minds automatically try and fill in the blanks, try to visualize the rest of the hidden face, the hidden expression just below the surface. As the streets became busier again, we set up our studio all over the city, 6 feet apart, masked, one and all. Let's hope these pictures will be outdated soon, just a distant reminder of a time and place, a dark history which unites us all.