On Sunday, March 22, the Governor of New York called for a statewide quarantine in all but name. New Yorkers were to stay home unless they had a good reason to be somewhere else. Businesses were to shut, except those which were deemed “essential” by relatively flexible notions of need. In the wake of the quarantine, the most privileged stayed home or escaped while those essential employees remained on the front lines. Coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2 or simply COVID-19, caused a worldwide cataclysm, destroying lives (economically and literally.)

This series of photos are presented as a small reminder of life before the fall of society precipitated by Coronavirus. What comes next is a chapter yet to begin. How many generations will need to pass before humanity forgets the fear of proximity instilled by the virus? Whither globalism? Will the lurking specter of authoritarianism finally conquer the Americans?

This post was written in the thick of pandemic uncertainty. As an editorial photographer, my fulfillment as a creative is illustrating continuity. Photos of the mundane, banal, or surprising moments I happen across each day, just as thousands of other photographers have done since photography became accessible to the commoner.

I shoot everyday, and my photos are made available, usually under a Creative Commons Attribution license, over at Flickr. Check them out.