Q & A with Innis Casey
Where did the idea for Quartraits come from?
By the end of March 2020, everything was shut down as were so many of the jobs I had on the calendar: weddings, private parties, corporate shoots, family portraits. Everything pretty much dried up. Like many people, I started to think about what I was going to do next. I still wanted to create with my camera. One day I called my great friend Nicolette and was telling her all this and she told me to stop talking. She said, “Go out, keep your distance, grab a mask, and head out into the street with your camera. Capture your neighborhood and all the people in it. Find a way to do what you love!” So, that’s what I did. I began to call these quarantine portraits “quartraits” and post them on my Instagram feeds, and it just took off. Truthfully, the greatest gift was the one I received by getting out there. Seeing smiles and faces again and hearing the friendly greetings and laughter of kids warmed my soul and saved me during a difficult and isolated time.
Aside from keeping your distance what were some of the challenges of shooting during a pandemic?
The challenges that come to mind were general communication with a mask on. Learning how to smile with my eyes. I’m a very expressive and animated person when I’m taking pictures. I felt like I was trying to figure out how to exaggerate that more, to let them know that I was excited to be there photographing them and that I was having a blast doing it. So many people began to contact me as I shared these images on my social media accounts. I think it became a thing that broke up the day for people and something to look forward to. To get dressed up and get out of the sweatpants was a big deal for many people early on. An added challenge was that in the beginning, I never thought I would be making a book, so I was writing names down on a notepad in the car or scrap paper and got a little disorganized. It cost me some time to re-organize my notes—- my handwriting can be atrocious at times.
What was the process for taking these Quartraits?
Ah, the process! I responded to people who contacted me via email or through my Instagram account, and I tried to set up a tentative schedule. There were times I was driving to Santa Monica and back to the Valley and then to Granada Hills all in one day. Sometimes I had 15 or more stops to make. I was driving a lot and trying to stick to the schedule as most people wanted to be ready for me. That’s not always easy in L.A. traffic. There were days I was gone from sunrise to sundown but it was so cool to feel the energy given to me from people. I also faced a personal challenge during this time too, balancing life with my son while helping my ex-wife who was diagnosed with breast cancer one month before we started this lock down. So, there were many things that I couldn’t do spontaneously because her chemo treatments were difficult at times, and my schedule only allowed for so many days to shoot. Because of this, I had to be abundantly cautious with my own health as I was the primary caretaker of her and our son during her treatments. But we found a rhythm and we did it. Those shoot days were cathartic and helped me mentally.
These photos not only document history, they are also very artistic. Do you consider yourself a photojournalist or an artist? Or both?
I’m definitely an artist. I have been that way my whole life. I love to create whether it’s with my words, my guitar, my paint brushes, or my cameras. I like to consider myself a storyteller with my camera. At weddings, I tell a love story through my lens. Essentially this is what a photojournalist does too, but my heart is 100% artist. So, I guess I would say these quartraits are photojournalistic but coming from an artist’s heart. Being able to document this historic moment through my creative mind and spirit is an incredible privilege.
If you could offer advice to your younger photographer self what would it be?
Trust your instincts. Remember that in art there are no rules, and that is okay. Take action and make those ideas realities. Just go and do it, just like my friend Nicolette told me to. Stop spending time thinking and talking about what you want to do and just DO IT!!! In the end it will take you somewhere. Oh, and it’s okay too if your project doesn’t turn out how you planned, because in general things rarely turn out the way we plan them. You can’t plan life. You just have to live it.
What are common traps of aspiring photographers?
There are many technical aspects that are important to understanding shooting good pictures. Knowing them and using them to manipulate your camera to create what you envision is a good thing. But know that it’s okay to break the rules and let go of some of those technical rigors. Play around and try things. Think outside of the box. Maybe a different point of view, or a shutter drag. Whatever. Play more. That’s where the beauty and artistry is found and something I wish I had not been fearful of earlier on in my career. You will discover things that you would have never imagined.
Q & A with Kimberley Lovato
How did you get involved with Quartraits: Portrait of a Community in Quarantine?
I was captivated by the artistic quartraits Innis was posting online. Some were joyful, some wistful, some funny, and some serious, and I recognized the importance of documenting this period in our lives in pictures. As much as we might want to forget the masks, the inconveniences, and the heartaches, it’s still history in the making and Innis was capturing it in a unique way. In a decade or two we might even want to remember certain moments or share details with future family members. I suggested to Innis that we collect his photos in a book as a kind of time capsule. It had been an idea in the back his mind, I just added the writing and organizational know-how. We were a good team.
Why did you want to add words to a photo book?
Innis’ pictures are stunning and certainly could stand alone in the book, but as a writer, I believe words have the power to connect people. I thought hearing directly from the community about what they were grappling with everyday would add more dimension to the images, and make the book as a whole more impactful. Many people in this book are smiling, which is a testament to our resilience as humans. But then you read that some people had sick family members across the country, had friends and loved ones in the hospital, had lost jobs and livelihoods, had kids that suffered from the isolation, and that forces readers to remember that everyone’s journey is different. We should never judge or presume to know what’s going on in someone’s life. The words inside Quartraits are not mine. They come straight from those in the photographs. Behind the beautiful two dimensional images are real people living real and sometimes complex lives. I think everyone who reads this book, whether in Los Angeles, New York, or on the other side of the world, will be able to relate to someone featured inside Quartraits. The emotions shared are universal.
What were some of the challenges with interviewing people?
The biggest challenge was that my brother would NOT stop taking photos. Ha! He was booked all the time and basically fell in love with every person and every image. That’s just him. I know he wanted to include many more people, but we had a size limit on the book and a deadline, though self-imposed. I would have liked to visit everyone in person but that wasn’t possible during a pandemic. So, I prepared questions and emailed people, then offered to hop on the phone to talk. In the end, I contacted around 130 people. Another huge challenge was getting people to respond. Some wrote back or set up calls right away; some ghosted me completely, even after multiple follow ups. Everyday was a little like herding cats, but I understand. These were strange days and schedules were as unpredictable as the times. And we got it done. Everyone featured in Quartraits was extremely generous with their time, very open and honest, and excited to be a part of such a unique project. My brother and I were enriched by their words.
Did a common message or theme emerge as you talked to people?
Absolutely! I heard a lot of humorous anecdotes and some heartbreaking ones, too. But the most common refrains were ones of gratitude for health and family along with compassion and kindness toward fellow humans. While this pandemic has not been easy on anyone, I found that people opened their hearts without hesitation to help neighbors and strangers. I was blown away by stories of clothes and food drop-offs at shelters, art left on people’s doorsteps, neighbors checking in on neighbors, impromptu celebrations for kids and friends who’d missed major milestones, sack lunches packed each Sunday for the homeless, candlelight vigils in support of social justice—-the list goes on. That people were so willing to see the needs of others when it would have been so easy to adopt a ‘what’s best for me’ attitude was heartwarming and inspiring. I’ll never doubt our capacity for kindness again.
What do you hope people get from paging through this book?
First of all, I hope people see these images as the pieces of art they are. These pictures are ‘framers’ for sure. I also want people to see themselves in the pages of this book. While these images and words were collected in Los Angeles, they will resonate with people around the world. That we are all going through something extraordinary together is remarkably powerful and comforting too. It sounds a little cliché to say this but I think empathy and kindness toward one another are the best survival tactics for hard times like these. This book is just a small slice of life of one corner of the world during an unprecedented moment in time, but I think it’s also a mirror of what’s going on everywhere.