What was it like being a York teen in lockdown? - photos

WE set out to photograph our friends from their windows during the first lockdown. After feeling stuck at home for weeks we seized the freedom we were given by the easing of restrictions and travelled across York from Fulford to Osbaldwick, Bishopthorpe and Dunnington.

Inspired by the work of photojournalist Bill Brandt’s The English At Home project from 1936, we wanted to document, through photojournalism, the atmosphere of the teenage quarantine experience.

MIa Fairburn photographed at home in lockdown and doing the 'Clap for Carers' - photos by Tom Weston and Eva Pears

On bikes, we cycled from village to village, summoning our friends to their windows so that we could photograph them from a safe distance.

We used different methods - Tom brought his digital camera while I took an old film camera that had belonged to my uncle. After getting the photos developed, Tom edited his images to have a similar tone to those shot with the film camera in the hope we could capture a nostalgic snapshot of life at this unique time.

Zach Bird photographed at home in Dunnington by Tom Weston

Why did we do it? Well, it was a way to combat boredom in lockdown. After school closing and exams being cancelled, a lot of us found ourselves at a loose end and through this project we had an excuse to get out around York and see friends (if only from afar).

Julia Sinkinson at home in Bishopthorpe - photographed by Tom Weston

A year on, it's interesting to look back at the photos we took. Here are our reflections:

Eva: "Now having been in and out of lockdowns for a year, I almost look back on the first lockdown with nostalgia – especially remembering all the time we were able to spend with friends once restrictions had been eased without the weight of exams on our shoulders.

Eva Pears

"However, I’m very aware that this past year has caused so much devastation for many from not only losing their jobs to losing loved ones as well. It’s been tough on everyone and I doubt that at the point we were taking these photos we had any idea we would still be in lockdown a year on from then. I wonder where we will be a year from now."

Tom Weston

Tom: "The beautiful weather that frames these photos doesn't do justice to the climate of the spring of last year. As young people, the pandemic felt like having the rug pulled out from under our feet - the cancellation of our exams and the uncertainty ahead of us left us not just isolated but lacking in direction.
"We were trying with these photos to take a snapshot of that unique feeling and the way in which the way we viewed the world had changed. In some ways, our mood was one of carefree bliss, with nothing to get done and nowhere to be, yet we were stuck looking out on the same few houses each day and instead of seeing our friends every day, a weekly Zoom quiz seemed like the extent of our social interaction.

"But I don't think that's what these photos show. They show a small group of young people happy to see a friendly face in the flesh again, a group that while feeling stuck in the same holding pattern was given a brief reprieve by the usually normal act of seeing another person and having a short chat. I think that while we tried to document the way we felt for most of the lockdown, we instead ended up with a series of shots that showed the opposite feeling, a brief break from the strange way we were living that felt a bit more normal, that let us be us again."