Three years later… When we think of a ghost, we think of something that is no longer alive yet persists as a reflection of what was before. Familiar, yet absent the spirit of life. This photo-essay is my impression of how the city of Vancouver looked and felt during the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic. It remains one of the most surreal experiences of my life.
This is the third anniversary of the emergence of the Covid pandemic, and the photoessay I was compelled to make of the ghostly appearance that descended upon Vancouver. During these first weeks of the pandemic, everyone was in a state of shock and panic.
No one knew what type of contagion we might be dealing with. We were given daily reports on the number of new infections and deaths. Was this a completely new disease, an emerging virus, a biological attack, or some alien contagion that came from space à la “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”? I would have people ask how I could risk moving around the city when the disease might be floating through the air.
The city quickly came to a standstill as people sheltered at home. As I looked down from my suite I observed a city unlike anything I had seen in my life. For the first time there were no people, there was no traffic, and the city seemed to have been vacated. I had not done any photojournalistic style photography in decades and felt called to capture some of what we were experiencing. We knew this was a historic event.
As I walked around the city, completely alone, I kept wondering if this might be the last photo project I made, if this would be the last record I would leave behind. I fully admit to having this thought constantly in my mind. With that spectre looming in my mind, I wondered what it was that I wanted to say and how to say it. The images presented themselves and coalesced into a collection of thirty-six images that would become a unique record of the event.
I often talk about the value for photographers to always be working on collections, series or projects of related images. I also strongly recommend the practice of creating commentary, stories of narrative for image collections. In this case, I found it extremely meaningful to convey my thoughts and feelings of the experience. One of the takeaways from the experience was confirmation that all our creations and the marvelous things we have built are empty and meaningless without the presence of people.
The collections we make as photographers can become part of the historic records of our time. My photoessay was selected for inclusion in the collection of the Royal British Columbia Museum as part of the historic records of this event. I hope to never have this experience again, and I’m thankful that I captured this event to share with others.
To see the complete Ghost Town photoessay and story – CLICK HERE
jb
27 Mar 2023Both the photos and the accompanying story are moving and certainly catapulted me back in time. My favourite is the Lions Gate Bridge – it captures the Ghost Town and its eerie immobilization of everything and everyone. I found the skateboarder was the modern equivalent of a lone cowboy walking into a ghost town – just missing the tumbleweeds.
christopherweeks
18 Oct 2023Thank you for your comment. The photoessay has quickly become quite the time capsule of that (hopefully…) once in a lifetime experience.
L. Wilder
28 Mar 2023This is important to remember. Images do it best, through the lens of the mindful observer, the artist who feels the scene instead of an influencer’s 5 second hot take. We need to remember. This is a second chance. This is NOT what we live with today – but it could have been. And it may yet be. Of all of those alternate parallel realities, this one came to live with us briefly. An unwelcome and unfamiliar house guest who left our lives in shambles, shook us to our core, made us look at what could be. We want to remember.