During a self-portrait, I float in the creek beyond my backyard where I spent my childhood exploring on August 12, 2021, in Loveland, Ohio. This image was made in the final days of my quarantine after testing positive for the COVID-19 virus ten days earlier.
We Still, a reflection
Nearly a year and a half passed from feeling the ripple effects of the entry of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States in 2020 to the return of a somewhat normal life for me as a college-aged student living in Ohio in 2021. This reflection shows scenes of my visual experience and written thoughts throughout that time.
Dark clouds loom ahead on the way home from Ohio University for my freshman year's spring break on March 6, 2020, on the James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway. I didn't know it at the time, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic reaching the United States a week or so later, I wouldn't return to Athens for in-person classes until my August, 2021, for my junior year.
A small cloud of gnats dash through the air during a walk along the Little Miami River on April 18, 2021. While back in my hometown, the rivers, creeks, birds, bugs and trees bring me peace during long walks — offering natural solace in-between long days looking at my computer and cell phone screens.
Dan Timmerman, my dad, leads the way up into the attic of our 150 year old home to close the windows on August 20, 2020. My dad and I share a middle name, Moore, and I'm constantly finding more ways that we're similar as I grow up.
My dad is in-camera double exposed with the old cedar on the edge of our backyard, both constant presences looking over me in my life.
Jennifer Timmerman, my mom, makes dinner behind a vase of flowers she brought home on June 30, 2021. The family room counter that sits opposite of the kitchen counter became my home base to work on my laptop, and allowed me to spend lots of time hanging out with my parents.
My mom is in-camera double exposed with her pottery wheel she purchased during quarantine, continuing to be the original inspiration in my creative life. My mom's film camera is the first camera I considered my own and is the one I used to make these double exposures.
Laine Dannemiller, my girlfriend since the last bit of high school in 2019, laughs on FaceTime while I make lunch on August 27, 2020. We were on spring break together when we first heard news of the coronavirus reaching the United States and spent our time away from school in the same hometown.
Laine is in-camera double exposed with dandelions, often we would find dandelions while on walks and make wishes — daydreaming about the pandemic ending and life returning to normal.
My shadow crosses the railroad tracks that run through my hometown of Loveland, Ohio, as I ride my bike home from my long-time restaurant job for one of the last times on January 9, 2021. Throughout all of high school, and on breaks from college, I worked as a busser and server at a family-owned bistro, but after accepting my first internship I was able to move on from the early mornings and late evenings at the restaurant.
Balloons float off into the sky during a heartbreaking six-year-old child's celebration of life I'm covering for the Cincinnati Enquirer on March 2, 2021. While the pandemic kept me home from Ohio University for the end of my freshman year and my entire sophomore year, an internship with The Enquirer allowed me the on-the-ground learning I yearned for.
“Be Safe, Ohio, Keep Distance, Mask in Public,” is messaged to drivers on Interstate 275 North near Loveland, Ohio, at sunset on August 28, 2020. Messages like this were displayed on traffic signs across Cincinnati from 2020 all the way through 2021.
On a short, much-needed vacation from school, internships and work, Laine and I drive around Athens following a backpacking trip on July 4, 2021. Time spent in nature, and with Laine, always seems to keep me grounded.
After only arriving at the Strouds Run State Park beach with one other friend, Laine and I run into a group of friends and end of spending the afternoon with them on July 4, 2021. For one of the first times in a long time, we felt like normal college students just having fun after a whole year separated from the college lives we expected.
Stars streak outside the plane window as I cross the Atlantic Ocean en route of Nairobi, Kenya, from New York City early in the morning on July 15, 2021. Time, like these stars, has seemed to fly by faster than usual since the beginning of the pandemic.
The waxing crescent moon rises above a peaceful blue sky in Athens, Ohio, on the evening of Sept. 12, 2021. After a year and a half, I've returned to Athens for in-person school at Ohio University where I'll stay for my remaining two years — still hopeful for the future.