Five years ago today — March 16, 2020 — Denver shut down. My then-wife, Chloe, and I found ourselves stuck at home with nowhere to go and a lot of time to fill. As a photographer, my instinct was to pick up a camera — but instead of documenting the anxiety and uncertainty of it all, we decided to make something a little more fun.
The concept was simple: recreate the same everyday moment twice — once as our optimistic Week 1 selves, full of sourdough ambitions and home workout motivation, and again several weeks later as the slightly more weathered, considerably more honest versions of ourselves. The toilet paper. The Zoom calls. The haircut. All of it.
The result was The Quarantine Series— a running photo diary of pandemic life that traded despair for deadpan humor. Our late dog, Zaxby, made several scene-stealing appearances throughout.
It was one of the most purely creative projects I've ever worked on, born entirely out of circumstances rather than a brief or a client. No fancy location, no special gear — just two people, a camera, and a very relatable situation.
The series took on a life of its own — we ultimately compiled the photos into a book and sold it as a fundraiser for the Denver Actors Fund, raising over $4,000 for an organization that supports theatre artists in financial need. We also made the cover of the Denver Westword!
Looking back at it now, I'm proud of what we made. It's a time capsule of a genuinely strange chapter in all of our lives, and a reminder that creativity doesn't need ideal conditions. Sometimes it just needs a little boredom and a sense of humor.
