COVID Diaries

By the California State Library

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Quarantine Self-Portrait

June 26, 2020

A black and white photo of a man waving to the camera with trees in the background.

This self-portrait was made on a beautiful summer day in June during the Covid-19 pandemic. I began lock down on March 11 and choose not to go out in public and be around others due to my health and the risk of death from Covid-19. I see friends, family, and delivery drivers through large windows of glass. I interact standing safely behind translucent barriers, the sliding glass door of my home, the glass computer monitor and the crystalline screen of my cellular phone, and I peer through a window near my front door. If you are viewing this post on a laptop, large tablet, or desktop computer, the photo can be enlarged. Click and it will expand. Please click and expand the image. Place your hand on mine. Close your eyes (if you wish) and think of someone absent, someone you miss and love. Take your time. The intimacy we just shared, the sensation you experienced, is how thousands of people interact daily, all trying to gain a small sense of horizonless human connection in the world we now live.

Submitted by Doug Winter, Sacramento County – Elk Grove.

Filed Under: COVID Diaries, Photograph, Writings

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