When my 5th grader hopped in the car at pick up today she was so happy to show off her new Green Team mask that one of her teacher’s grandmothers had made. First of all, ADORABLE. This teacher is a young one and an absolute GEM. And her grandma sewed masks for a dozen kids? Priceless!
Where we live, Covid is still very much a part of our daily lives, we are all vaxxed and boosted where applicable and never really stopped wearing masks in stores and school ever since March 2020. That being said, we’ve done OK as a community with our infection rates till freakin’ omicron hit in December. Anyway, I have photographed more pandemic-affected events than I can believe. The Bar and Bat Mitzvahs that were taking place in a newly minted adults living room with the Rabbi on zoom (we took family pics outside beforehand). The micro-wedding to make it official in front of a dozen masked family members while the big bash was going to happen at a later date. The elopment at the mask-requiring botanic garden where we unmasked for a few pics away from other people. And when I finally think we’re starting to get to a safe place pandemic-ly to shoot a small outdoor Mitzvah celebration, to find out the majority of the kids go to a private school that requested masks on when their students gathered regardless. You can bet I was snapping as many pics as possible when they were eating which is usually NOT something I do.
I’m over it. So so very over it as a photographer. Putting aside the fogging up of glasses and camera viewfinders (I’ve tried all the tricks), only seeing the top half of people’s faces without their smiles is kind of soul sucking for someone whose livelihood is documenting said faces. One of the hardest tricks is conveying to people that you really can smile with your eyes! Smize! Or is it “Smeyes?” I think I like Smize best. I first snapped a pic of my kiddo so I could send this teacher a quick thank you when I realized my kid had dead eyes. Eyes that had seen a long day of elementary school and needed a shot of hot cocoa when we got home to wash away the hard times. Which is the exact opposite of my little extrovert who literally bounced into the car so thrilled to have seen her friends for the first time after a long and uneventful winter break. I got her to smile with her eyes and showed her the difference. She was amazed how what she thought wasn’t a big deal showed so obviously. So next time you’re out, dutifully wearing your mask as a kindness to your community, you can still smile with your eyes. Try it!