Featured Article: Ilford Photo

I was invited to share Our Lockdown Garden, in a dedicated article on the official ILFORD PHOTO Magazine & Stories platform.

The feature highlights my series of socially distanced portraits and interviews, which document the passage of time, seasons, and resilience inside an English garden during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was made in close collaboration with the octogenarian and nonagenarian residents of the sheltered independent living community where my father resides.

Because the entire series was captured on analogue film, ILFORD PHOTO invited me to write about my workflow and technical choices. In the article, I discuss using my Nikon FM2 paired with Ilford HP5 Plus film. I dive into how the dappled late-afternoon sun lent itself perfectly to the medium, prompting me to shoot at box speed (400 ISO) or push the film one to two stops to emphasize the contrast between light and shadow.

Having a legendary photographic institution like ILFORD PHOTO showcase this work after finding it on Instagram is the positive side of social media. The feature explores how the camera can be used to navigate heavy themes like aging, transience, and isolation, while ultimately celebrating the profound human connections that bloomed in our oldest community members' lives during this time.