海角大神

The children鈥檚 hands push into the glass pane as the family of five poses behind their front door. In some photos, family members peer over their fences, only their eyes visible. Many of the portraits play on space and distance 鈥� each member hangs a head out of a separate second-story window, for example.

Welcome to a new phenomenon sweeping the photography community in Canada: 鈥減orchraits.鈥� These family portraits, often taken on porches, are one way of marking the physical isolation that many are feeling right now. But they also highlight a renewed embrace of togetherness felt by many families.

鈥淲e鈥檙e living through a unique period of time for all of us,鈥� says Erik McRitchie, a brand photographer in Calgary, Alberta. 鈥淧eople are together in a way they haven鈥檛 been in a long time.鈥澛�

That鈥檚 something families are keen to hold onto, judging by Mr. McRitchie鈥檚 busy calendar. At the middle of last week he had done 25 shoots and had 40 more to go.

Editor鈥檚 note: As a public service,聽all our coronavirus coverage聽is free. No paywall.

Mr. McRitchie is part of a network of photographers inspired by one in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, who started taking photos of residents through their windows. Using the hashtag #porchraits, photographers have inspired one another to get out and document their communities. And the practice has started to pop up in the United States; though there鈥檚 a bit of debate over how to spell the new term聽and they are sometimes called #doortraits or #isolationportraits.

Many of the images are whimsical, poking fun where they can. One family poses on their porch with rolls of toilet paper around their wrists; even the dog gets one around its paw. Others dress up in costumes or party attire, taking a break from the stress and worry that the coronavirus pandemic has unleashed around the world.聽

Other photos are聽more stark, revealing the stillness and solitude聽of the social-distance era.聽And even today, in the midst of it, it鈥檚 easy to see that these collections, growing across North America and Europe, could easily hang on museum walls the way exhibits of stoic settlers of the Dust Bowl or cities in the Great Depression do a century later.

鈥淭hese are really interesting documents at this time,鈥� says Carol Payne, a professor of the history and theory of photography at Carleton University in Ottawa. While many of the journalistic photographs of the era revolve around barriers 鈥� adults separated from elderly parents in nursing homes, or isolated healthcare workers who can only see their children through windows 鈥� 鈥減orchraits鈥� give subjects a sense of agency, she says, and in the end will show how ordinary people coped together.

鈥淭hey are telling their future selves what it was like to live through what is really an historic crisis,鈥� Professor Payne says. 鈥淧eople are writing their own social histories visually, not the history of politicians and nation-states but the history of individual people and how they got through it.鈥�

Many of the photographers, like Mr. McRitchie, aren鈥檛 making money from it. If families can, he is encouraging them to donate to a local food bank. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really just trying to take a moment of difficulty, and turning it into something positive,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd see if it can be replicated and grown into something bigger.鈥�

Jon Neufeld鈥檚 family is the one outside the glass door last week in their residential community in Calgary. He says they were 鈥渉amming it up,鈥� just having a bit of fun about being stuck inside all day. It also happened to be the day they were supposed to have their daughter鈥檚 5th birthday party. Instead, she dressed up in pink and they ate birthday cake on the front steps (Mr. McRitchie was invited, one of four 鈥渇ront porch birthday parties鈥� he鈥檇 celebrated that week).聽

Mr. Neufeld says it鈥檚 been fun to see the other portraits posted around social media. But collectively it tells a deeper tale. 鈥淭he kind of struggle is implicit in the fact that if you look through the collection, we鈥檙e all on our porches. We鈥檙e all on the front steps of our houses,鈥� he says, 鈥渨here we are spending 99% of our time.鈥�

That鈥檚 posed technical problems for photographers, who are more used to scenic backgrounds or studios where lighting possibilities are limitless. But through this work, Mr. McRitchie says he has documented something new: a family togetherness and a return to slower living. When he arrived at one house, two little children were sitting at their front window with a 鈥渃ampfire鈥� they made from cardboard. They were pretending to roast marshmallows.

In between his shoots he鈥檚 noticed more teens out walking with their parents.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 weird, right?鈥� he says. 鈥淏efore, mom or dad would go for a walk, and ask, 鈥榶ou guys want to come?鈥� And the kids are like, 鈥榥o, not a chance.鈥� But now they鈥檙e out together.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 just so easy to be occupied with the negativity right now, and any break from that in a positive way is uplifting,鈥� he continues. 鈥淲hen we see people are celebrating, laughing and having fun, and families that are together, it鈥檚 reminding us of the strength we can find together.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: As a public service,聽all our coronavirus coverage聽is free. No paywall.