I love taking pictures. Anyone who knows me knows that. Go too long without shooting, and something in me starts to ache.
But over the past few years, work has swallowed up most of my chances to wander around with a camera. There's never enough time, the gear can be a hassle to carry, and these days, roaming the streets with an expensive camera, or even a phone in your hand, comes with its own concerns.
So I started wondering: Can I take pictures without holding a camera? Can I turn the time lost to endless video calls into something that breathes?
Portraiture has always been one of my favorite forms of photography. And I found a way to keep making portraits without using my own camera.
The webcam becomes the lens. The screenshot becomes the shutter. And the darkroom is a mix of prompts and artificial intelligence, used to restore detail, enhance resolution, and give each image the finish of a studio portrait.
The result: Portraits on Call, a photographic series made without a camera, but not without a photographer's eye.
Fleeting moments from the ordinary hours of our working lives. Faces caught between exhaustion and panic, distraction and boredom, confusion and, now and then, something like joy.
Yes. Apparently you can be happy on a video call.
