Portraiture Practice atop the Patio
REDACTED, 20, newly homed in city he attends college at, UC Berkeley, 2020. Freshly settled, he sits on their apartment’s patio getting comfortable, letting the atmosphere of the sticky afternoon set in. With protests and a pandemic raging on the other side of their door, a slice of the outside is tucked within a haven of their untried balcony. A taste of safety, if only for a moment.
REDACTED, 20, leans over their apartment’s porch in an unusually warm Berkeley afternoon, 2020. For the first time since moving to the city two years prior for college, he can see a sliver of San Francisco in the distance from his home. The horizon lit by a fast setting sun, he seeks some inspiration in the hazy air beyond.
REDACTED, 20, playing with bubbles after having stumbled across his roommate’s lobster bubble blower on the balcony of his new apartment, Berkeley, Calif., 2020. Catching bits of the beautiful natural light quickly sinking under the sea line, the bubbles sparked and shined behind the sun’s rays into his squinted eyes.
REDACTED, 20, spotted in the wild inspecting himself in an unexpected mirror behind his new apartment’s balcony, Berkeley, Calif., June 2020. Perhaps just a ghost, or a projection across the neighbor’s building? Maybe instead, a reminder to the self: a long day has been had, and many more lay ahead. Best to be rested, best to stay sharp, best not to stress, and the dance with life can continue as harmonious waltz to the tune of its chords.
Roommates (pictured left to right) Michelle, Vivian, and Kevin show up to celebrate the comforts of their new college apartment together on their patio before their Junior year at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2020. After reconvening to catch some sun and shots together, Kevin quickly fills the air with bubbles and poses. while his girlfriend Vivian and roommate Michelle stare agape.
Moments like these are harder to come by nowadays, I am grateful I had an excuse to capture some genuine happiness, gone as quick as it had come in the turmoil of the changing world, just outside our doors.
