A Sense of Normality

At the end of May 2020, I was once again in Milwaukee, photographing two designs for a client. The projects were COVID-19 related and, to be honest, quite depressing. After photographing a COVID-19 ward at the Milwaukee County Prison, I decided to take a walk along the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee and capture some images with my lovely Fujifilm X100V.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and there were people everywhere enjoying the weather. Some restrictions were recently lifted in the area, and you could tell everyone was suffering from cabin fever. Never before had I been so happy to see so many people out enjoying the lakefront.

While there was a buzz of optimism around, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was living in a dream. Most of the area shops were still closed, you could not eat in a restaurant, and the Milwaukee Art Museum was closed. It was a surreal feeling as if I was walking through an overpopulated ghost town - which is an oxymoron.

While my melancholic mood had me capturing images of a more somber nature, seeing the sunny skies and smiling faces of so many people helped me feel a sense of normality.

Below are two images from that day that I am most proud of.