​ Bailey Elizabeth Rogers Photography

Born out of a private Facebook message, this is the story of one group of families from a small suburban St. Louis neighborhood, and their experiences during the COVID-19 shutdown.

 

When approached by a neighborhood Mom about doing a "front porch session", I pitched her a different way to capture her family during this time. One that I felt more accurately portrayed life during quarantine. Why not shoot the portraits through windows, really focusing on the feelings behind being trapped in your home? To show their personalities, I encouraged the family to include signs, masks, or anything that represented how they were surviving or feeling during this time. Much to my surprise, the Mom loved this idea even more. 

 

Looking at their photos I was amazed at how powerful they were. They showed the raw emotion that I had hoped they would portray. It was this vulnerability that inspired me to photograph the reality of more families in my neighborhood.

 

My mission with this series was to combine and capture universally felt emotions, with the personalities of each family. To truly identify and portray the feelings of each person, and bring them beyond the glass they were stuck behind. 

 

I learned so much about the families I worked with. Families just a few streets away that I had never met until COVID brought us together. It was not through traditional conversations but the way they chose to portray themselves in their photos. They gave me the gift of honesty. Baring their souls and truly showing how this pandemic was affecting them. It was an honor to bring this series to life.