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| Jim Han by Blake Andrews |
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BA: What have you been up to lately?
JH: I ended up going out to Delta Park yesterday and spent the day there. Someone suggested going out there. Lots of activity there.
Oh yeah, Bobby's been shooting out there lately too. He told me a bit about it last night. Sounds kinda cool. Very eclectic mix of ages/ethnicity/social, apparently.
Yeah. Someone suggested going to the back of a convenience store where many people congregate and use fentanyl and meth.
You've got a nose for the drug scene. We'll get to that...But first, can we start where most of my chats do? Where/how did you grow up? And what was your path from there into photography?
I grew up in Spokane, Washington. My mother used to make my sister and I pose for photos and I remember as a kid spending a lot of time looking through all the family photo albums many times over. My father used to take a lot of photos. I used to have a point and shoot camera and would take pictures of people who were in my life and I in theirs. Somewhere along the way I stopped and it wasn’t until 2016 when I picked up photography again.
Was there some event in 2016 that got you back into it, or what inspired you? How old were you in 2016?
Yeah. A voice showed up and it was insistent that I buy a camera. I ignored it but it kept on. Eventually I picked up a film camera off of Craigslist and haven’t stopped since.
What do you mean? What voice?
In 2016 I was 45, I think. Around that time I was experimenting with psychedelics and a form of meditation and a voice started to appear and guide me to do certain tasks or occasionally tell me what was going to happen. It is not around as much now.
Were any of the predictions accurate? That's kinda weird and scary.
One time I was living with a roommate and I remember her standing over me yelling and pissed. I used to be angry all the time and would act irrational and I remember thinking as I was watching her — if that is what I look like when I am angry, then I look insane. Anyway, I was reading a book and my vision became blurry and the same voice said “she is going to move out” and I came out of it and thought must be wishful thinking and then a couple minutes pass and she comes storming downstairs and tells me she is moving out and wants half the rent back. Haha!
You mentioned that voice recently on IG. You said that a voice told you to make the Pussy book and gave you the title, or something like that?
Yeah. I was on LSD and the sequence of the book came in a flash.
Interpretations of the LSD experience are variable. For you maybe it was a channel to some "voice" which tapped into a hidden truth? Who knows. If there was some way to utilize that info that and predict the future it could be quite a tool! But I'm not sure "the voice" always responds to logic.
Haha! Probably not. Anyway, it’s just an occurrence and nothing to be attached to or identify with. The voice hardly comes around anymore.
Weird. Did the voice come around before 2016?
Yeah. I had a fiancé and she moved out because of a disagreement about the future and I used to drink heavily and be depressed and angry and bitter and resentful and had a shit ton of self pity. I had a house full of junk and I was looking around while on LSD and depressed and the first time the voice showed up it said, just get rid of it all. And I did. I sold what I could sell, gave away what I could give away and threw the rest away. The place was empty. I remember sitting in the living room on the only chair in the place and for the first time I could see the sunlight reflect off the hardwood floors and it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a long time.
This was in 2016?
2014 maybe.
But it was fairly abrupt? Like you switched mental gears quickly…and then found photography soon after?
Yeah. It just showed up and what a gift to be blessed with, the ability to practice photography.
I gotta say you don't seem very angry now. So just hearing you say that is creating some cognitive dissonance for me, trying to imagine you in that state.
Nah. Brain change. It’s an amazing thing
But it was almost like a born-again situation. Like you did a 180, and photography led you to an entire new worldview. Or maybe I'm romanticizing.
Yeah. A whole life will change simply by taking responsibility.
Was the person standing over you yelling at you your fiance? Or was it two different people?
Nah. A different person. Ex-fiancé was a sweetheart. In fact one day she was driving and was getting angry behind the wheel and her friend asks her what is going on. Turns out she adopted that behavior from me haha!
So what kind of photos were you making back in 2016? Was the voice guiding you at all?
Mostly making photos of graffiti art around town and would find abandoned buildings with art inside to photograph. No voice guiding me.
I'm curious to see those. They seem tangentially related to what you're doing now. But of course much less personal. What was the progression from graffiti art to the more humanist (embedded?) work you're doing now?
End of 2016 or the beginning of 2017 I took a darkroom class at Newspace and was beginning to discover Winogrand, Friedlander, etc and I felt a pull to photograph people. The graffiti really wasn’t doing it for me, but I didn’t know what else to photograph. No voices. It put the camera in my hand and took off.
Which class? Who taught it?
Lauren from PDR was one of the teachers.
Cool, I haven't seen her in forever.
Man, she was so kind and encouraging. It was an evening class so I could go after work and she taught us how to process film, make contact sheets, and make enlargements in the darkroom.
What was the pull to photograph people? Can you describe what motivated you? I mean, I feel it too but I'm not sure I fully understand it. So I'm just trying to get your take.
I don’t know. When I was a kid I would collect school photos from my classmates. Even if I didn’t know them I would want one. I would flip through yearbooks and just stare at people’s faces. I don’t know why. It was just enjoyable. When I took up painting years ago I would make Polaroids of people’s face and bring them home and paint portraits. When I saw Bruce Gilden’s digital portraits I was floored and that’s when I started asking folks for portraits more often. I didn’t want to do what he was doing but I wanted to make portraits.
So your paintings had some similarity to your photos.
Yes. I don’t know what it is but I enjoy looking at people’s faces.
I don't shoot many portraits any more but as I understand it they rely on a basic connection with others. I mean, maybe the pictures are just the secondary residue, and the really vital essence is the actual human connection. I'm not sure any flat 2d illustration can really capture what it’s like to be in the presence of another person, but some photos come close. But mostly what portraits do, yours and Gilden's, is make me wonder about the behind-the-scenes interaction. Like what is the connection? What was happening? What did you talk about? What was the process that led to that frame? That's what I wonder about a lot when I look at your photos.
Yeah. Before photography came along I did my best not to interact with people. Now, with a camera and a desire to work, I will jump into just about any situation if it seems like a photo might be in there. It is quite the rush to learn how to navigate social interactions which is something I avoided all together. Photography has brought me out of my shell and has shown me a bigger world of even worlds within worlds.
Camera as passport.
It is. A ticket to adventure. What a rush. What a ride. Why don’t you shoot many portraits anymore?
I don't really use my camera as a passport. I shoot pictures of people once I get to know them. But I don't often approach strangers for portraits. It's just a different approach I guess. It takes a while for me to become comfortable with strangers, to the point where I can shoot them. I may be missing out on some photos, who knows.
I remember when we were in LA and you had approached a stranger before breakfast.
I don't remember that particular photo, and I haven't gotten to that film yet. So I might trigger a memory when I print it. Maybe that person just struck me a certain way? I can't recall.
What did you shoot when you first started out with photography?
I was very formal, shooting patterns and shadows and stuff like that. Which I still do sometimes. I went through a big Friedlander phase early on lining up buildings, etc. That is still a tool in the toolbox, but my kit has expanded. I find that most of those early formalist photos don't really have much lasting impact. They don't really show what the world is like. Which is really the main strength of photography, I think.
Yeah. The only way to really know what the world is like is to be a part of it and live it. It seems anyway. I seem to look at photos and feel a feeling more than I expect it to show me what the world is like. Some photos have so much feeling and some others of course fall short. And what it is capable of showing is beauty. Or show a moment of poetry that would otherwise be lost in the moment as it moves away into another moment.
Which ones have so much feeling? Does it correspond to the feeling you had when you were with the person?
Not so much my own work but when I look at the work of others. I try to find that same feeling or something similar when going through my own work. Though in my own work that feeling is far and few between. The feeling is not personal. It’s like a game of hide and seek.
I'm not sure I understand. When you're hanging out with people and shooting them, you don't feel a strong personal connection?
Yes. I feel connection. But when evaluating the work it’s something else and sometimes the strong personal connection gets in the way of seeing the work.
Can you site examples?
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| Spread from Larry Towell's The Mennonites |
I have been looking through Larry Towell’s The Mennonites and the photo that first stopped me in my tracks is the photo of the two, maybe three boys driving a car and feeling and vibe of the photo, the feeling of rebellion, of doing something that their community says they are not allowed to do and the feeling of motion with the ground flying by and the dark clouds behind them all combine to give me a feeling that is enjoyable to feel and makes me wish I could be in the back seat feeling it even more so.
I can't make out the Towell photo very well. Is the car moving? It looks like motion blur. But if so, where is he positioned?
Yes. Pretty quickly. Larry must be sitting or kneeling on the hood of the car. Daredevil.
WTF?
Yeah. Fucking wild. I’m sure there were no safety measures taken.
I can relate to Larry Towell as a force of nature. He has shot all this bad ass shit in distant places, but his life and community are pretty local. If you passed him on the sidewalk he'd be just another bearded freak in a small town. Probably drives a dented up Ford 150.
Haha! Sign me up. F150 is a big truck. I do not know much about Larry. The Mennonites is my first experience with his photography. I will now need to search out others.
I’ve got this one. I don't know much about Towell either but I think he lives a kind of double life which I admire. World famous art star...and humble backyard farmer guy. Somehow he makes it work.
Wow. Do you have that book, The World From My Front Porch?
Yeah, I posted on IG about it a while back.
I bet you have a wonderful collection of photo books.
Yeah, more of a "raw shit load" than collection. More turn up each week. I'd like to build the best private photobook library in Oregon. I feel petty sure I can do it, but it will take a few more decades. (Chris Rauschenberg has the best currently).
Sounds like you’ve had a chance to hang out in Chris’ library.
Back when I lived in Portland I invited myself over there a few times.
Haha! How did he react?
He's a friendly person generally open to sharing. And he has an amazing book collection. I learned a lot poking through his shelves. For many of the rare OOP titles, that was my first experience seeing them in real life.
Are any of your boys interested in photography? I would love to sit and look through all your family albums.
My boys don’t really care for photobooks. And that's fine, why should they? It's inside baseball. No one gives a shit about photobooks except other photographers! But I think my kids will hang on to the family albums. Speaking of photobooks, how was that event up in Seattle?
It was a blast. So many people showed up to the event. There was a sense of excitement in the air. They will probably do it again next year.
Maybe some post-pandemic electricity?
Could be.
Did you get any good response or critique on your book? Or (gulp) sales?
Yeah. All but one book sold. I was surprised. What was a real trip, was the sense that a couple of people came to the event to specifically meet me. It was a trip and a strange sensation. There was good response. Some people, once they saw the covers, passed right by haha! One lady, older lady, came back later and bought one of the books. Someone who witnessed this said to me later that he was surprised that she seemed to “get” the work. No one spoke negatively to me about the work and I was half expecting someone to.
Nice!!
Ha! I was looking for you. I thought maybe you’d be there.
I thought about going. But then I had a book nerd moment where I asked myself, you're really gonna drive 5 hours to see a book fair? And then drive right back? I guess my true colors showed through. Maybe I’m not enough of a book nerd after all. But if they do it next year, who knows, maybe I"ll make a photo junket out of it. I think you have the makings for a pretty solid monograph. But the logistics? Kind of a minefield.
Thanks, Blake for the encouraging words. When will you put out a monograph?
Like I said, it's a minefield. Too many choices. I'll just crawl back in my hole, thanks.
I went through your blog, went through all your photos from beginning to end in one sitting and I swear something in my brain shifted and changed due to that experience.
I'm curious about Portland's tent culture. What attracts you photographically to that scene?
I don’t know. Again, there was a pull to go into a particular area of downtown and I obeyed the pull. I would walk into the area as part of a larger walk. Then the pandemic happened and it was the only area of downtown that was populated with people. I kept showing up and eventually people got to know me. The sweeps weren’t happening and so there was a community of people growing and folks settled in. I would go on the weekends then I would go on the weekends and after work. I brought bound books of the work and once people could see what the work looked like they allowed me more access.
What do you want to express about that scene with your photos?
I am not working towards an expression, I just want to work. I love working on photography. I imagine the expression will show itself to me, if it hasn’t already. It’s a game of discovery.
Have you ever checked out Hastings Street in Vancouver?
If it is the street I am thinking of, no. I have watched a couple of documentaries filmed there.
I've never seen a sorrier, denser skid row. And this was about 10 years ago. I'm guessing it's more concentrated now. It comes to mind thinking of your photos and the communities that you've photographed. I stayed near there with George. We kind of avoided Hastings. It was pretty intense.
It seems so. I would like to see the area for myself. The only place outside of Oregon that I have been to with heavy drug use was Skid Row in LA. Even then it seems I was pretty fortunate because a resident there who has been there for many many years took a liking to me and followed me around then morphed into being a guide.
Yeah, it seems like you found your way into that scene pretty easily. How did that go? How did you approach people there initially, and what was it like hanging out there for extended periods? Maybe the same question applies to Portland skid row. What's the social dynamic like?
It was interesting. I would approach people the same way I would approach people here in Portland. But their response to me was definitely different. Harder outer shell to crack. It was interesting to find out that the community had certain people you could go to for certain services. Some people finding a way to fill a need within the community.
What sort of skid row conversations have you had?
Not sure how to answer the question about conversations. So many and it seems to me at this time to try and put it all to words. Most of the time people are telling me their stories. Most are heartbreaking. I oftentimes consider taking a digital recorder with me to record our conversations but in the end i always choose to concentrate on the photography portion of our interaction.
I guess it depends what you're after. Actually I think for documenting reality photography is a pretty blunt tool. A recorder would do a much better job. Or videography.
Yes. I have to agree on both counts.
With your photos you seem to focus on the moment of getting high, or shortly afterward. Am I imagining that?
Yes. I do.
So your photos are kind of about drug use, and documenting that activity. But to me they seem to be about something beyond that. A dream state. They tap some other world. Which photography can do better than most other recording devices I think. We leave videographers in the dust there, haha.
Yes. Also experimenting and experiencing a series of photos in a particular sequence brings about a feeling, for me, that film or listening to a person speak about their experience cannot. This feeling cannot be put into words, but it seems to activate a different part of my consciousness that is more satisfying. Haha! Also, the experience of tripping the shutter manually with intention and also to get to the point of tripping it without thought is quite the experience for me. One gentleman put it best: that photography is my drug. And I am out with them getting my fix.
Is that a common experience for you, tripping the shutter without thought? It's not very common for me. I wish it were.
Yes. Once I stopped getting hung up on getting a great shot then more and more and much more quickly I am able to enter into a state of no thought and just go. Even framing is done without thought or consideration.
I could ask a bunch of shit here about flow states and yada yada yada but you and I and everyone reading this have already contemplated that stuff to death so NO.
Yes. I can see that in your work. Your work seems to be based on a lot of observation on your part.
Well yeah. If I'm out shooting for a few hours, it takes a lot of concentration. It's work (pleasurable but still work), and my brain is usually fried after, like after a long chess match or something. I should add that I’m a pretty brain-forward photographer. Heart and soul take a back seat. Your method sounds more fun.
I don’t know. Your method seems fun to me. I imagine if I was walking with you I wouldn’t see a quarter of what you see. A lot of the photos that come out of your camera make me laugh. Sharp witted, clever, and intelligent but not trying to be. The photos just seem to be an extension of your personality.
The grass is always greener (especialy in Oregon).
Haha!
Have you tried fentanyl?
Hell no. Been offered it plenty of times. Opiates scare the hell out of me. I like altering consciousness but addiction scares the hell out of me. And fentanyl addiction is a monster. Watching people and seeing what it does to them and hearing the stories. It’s horrible.
Never tried heroin or morphine?
I had an oxy addiction for a minute. Years ago. You?
No. At one point in my youth I was more open to new experiences and might have tried them. Now I'm too old for new tricks. Maybe I'm an idealist but I don't view any drug as "evil" or through some bad/good lens. Even fentanyl has a productive application in theory. Morphine is a medical marvel, and I know opiates have helped to create many amazing art works over the years, even if they've led some astray in the process. There are thousands of functional users out there as I write this. I’m not trying to glamorize hard drugs. They have huge risks. Just want to view them objectively.
It’s true.
What about the sexual angle to your photos? Which seems to go with the drugs in terms of pushing against cultural norms. What's going on there? You named one of your books Your pussy better be gold baby and it shows a pussy on the cover. What's up with that?
I have always been fascinated with sex workers. I used to work at the Lusty Lady in Seattle years ago. I worked the graveyard shift. I started shooting more on 82nd Ave hoping to meet sex workers and photograph them. Again, just feel a pull towards that area. One day after work I spontaneously got off the Max at the 82nd Ave stop and started exploring. It was meant to be silly more so than sexual. In the book is a photo of a cellphone that shows a text conversation between someone I knew who is a sex worker and opiate addict and a john. In it he was telling her her pussy better be gold and she responded it is. Haha!
Jeff Mermelstein eat your heart out, haha. I'm guessing you've seen the recent Cammie Touloui book? She worked at the original Lusty Lady down in SF back in the 1990s. And I heard she recently moved to Portland.
I’ve seen bits and pieces on the internet. I would like to pick up a copy. Do you have it? What do you think of it?
Perfect. I love reading your book reviews. I’ve picked up so many books after reading about them on your Instagram page or your website review. They never disappoint.
What job were you doing at Lusty Lady?
Janitor some nights and cashier other nights. Blood, piss, shit, cum. Haha! And lots of used tissues.
So you worked at Lusty Lady. And you mentioned painting. And you were in a band, and almost married? And you're a mortician? All of this was before you picked up the thread of photography in 2016 at age 45. I know it's a lot but can you sketch a rough timeline? What happened before 2016?
Yes. After my fiancé left I started going to open mics and sharing these songs that I had been working on. At some point I met a person who introduced me to a person who sold psychedelics. Then through that person I met other who were practicing Magik and alternative healing methods. Through that group I was lead to Dr Christopher Hyatt’s book, Undoing Yourself, and Robert Anton Wilson’s book, Prometheus Rising. Eventually I met another person who could coach me through the energized meditation exercises in Christopher Hyatt’s book. This released a lot of unconscious tension and PTSD and also alleviated some of the fear that had been built up to that point. I was then offered a chance to make a record, with Larry Crane at Jackpot Studios with a band put together by John Vecchiarrlli, who hosted the open mic at the White Eagle. Then the voice told me to contact Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic Studio and off I went. All these experiences became manageable and enjoyable with less tension and fear in my body. Then one day it all stopped. The Music. And it was quite easy to shed that identity and move the creative energy into photography.
What happened to the record?
Hahaha! No one wanted them so I threw the physical copies away but they are steaming online.
The history of art, reduced to one example. But wait, the voice directed you? I thought that wasn’t until later.
Haha! But those experiences are the meat of it all. Yeah. Nah. The same voice that told me to get rid of all my possessions up to that point was the same voice that told me to reach out to Calvin and ask if I could make a record with him at his studio.
What did the voice sound like? Was it someone else's voice? Or did it come to you in your own internal voice? Can you describe it tangibly?
Just an internal voice that is as clear as the clearest day. It has a different quality then the gibberish nonsense that has plagued my life more so then than now. It has weight and presence.
Are you still doing LSD much? And if so, is the voice still there?
Nah. Mushrooms every once in a while if there’s a calling to do so. One time I had a dream and a gift of a sword was bestowed upon me and I pulled the blade out and the end said mushrooms. I woke up and ate some. It was a nightmare, a beast that tore me up emotionally. But it was a gift as well. Still processing out a lot of old emotions. Hardly any voices anymore.
Are psychedelics much of a presence in Portland's tent cities? It seems like they might have therapeutic applications.
Nah. No psychedelics. Nowadays it’s just fentanyl or meth. Heroin has all but disappeared. No one shoots up heroin anymore. We’re you ever much into psychedelics?
Yes of course. They were common in my friend-group around late adolescence. I feel so fortunate to have enjoyed that experience. If it were a different time or place it might have been fentanyl or heroin, who knows. But for whatever reason those drugs were not very common (Fentanyl not even invented?) and I just did whatever was around.. Marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, shrooms, acid. Just the boring drugs I guess.
Did you have a cosmic experience that stands out for you now? Maybe even still having an influence now?
"Cosmic" is a hard word for me. But those experiences have definitely helped form me and my worldview. The thing with LSD is that it was a very consuming experience. I can have a few beers or a joint and wake up next day fine. But acid? That took weeks for me to resurface completely. I was never one of those people who could just do it regularly and float in that weird meta state. I’m too much of a control freak.
Really. Wow. That must have been a weird sensation. How would you cope? Care to share one experience?
Once I was with my buddy G. We drove out to the ocean one day and dropped acid. We parked the car and started hiking, and pretty soon the trail got all strange and I couldn't remember which way we'd come in from. So we just picked a direction anyway and came to this fantastic meadow above the ocean. Even decades later this place remains the single most beautiful vista that I've visited. It was a gorgeous fall day, sunny and breezy. And I photographed my sneakers in the meadow with an old point-n-shoot. I felt an urgency to shoot them. I can't remember why but I had to take a photo. I still have that pic in an old album. It’s a terrible photo, looks like shit just like any snapshot of old sneakers should. But at the time it seemed like they were glowing. I guess that's photography in a nutshell. It never looks like what you experienced.
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| Shoes in a meadow circa 1986, Blake Andrews |
Then we hiked down to the beach and all the little pebbles turned into Steal-Your-Face skull shapes, and I finally understood what all the Grateful Dead iconography was about, because I'd been going to a lot of Dead shows around that time, but not fully grasping it. Or so it seemed. And I remember feeling completely non-hungry, non-sexual, and non-musical. It was as if all my primal drives were switched to "Off”. That was peculiar. The most beautiful beach on earth and we had it all to ourselves. We didn’t see another soul the whole day.
Sounds fun. You ever experience a bad trip?
Yeah, I had a bad trip my first one. Some dude gifted me some tabs over the summer so I dropped one about 11 pm one night thinking it might be a fun nightcap. That right there should tell you how little I knew about acid. I was pretty ignorant and also solo. I wound up roving for hours on the beach which was normally my comfort zone. But the moon and kelp turned into sea monsters, and I was all alone and pretty freaked. So that night sucked, and it went on forever. It was an In-Your-Face introduction to Acid. I get it now, but of course at the time it was a jolt, and I just had to get through the trip. I didn’t sleep a wink until dawn, then crashed on the drive home the next day.
Haha! You ever experience overwhelming fear.
Well yeah, I probably did that first time. As much as anyone 17 can fear anything. I mean, I had zero fear of anything at that age. Probably some white male privilege in there mixed with small-town bravado. Anyway, I think that was the first time I realized I didn’t know everything. So that insight was kind of frightening.
Do you remember what brought the feeling on?
I was watching the Tonight Show as the acid hit. I'll never forget. I have a lasting image of Jay Leno' s tie doing sidewinders and I'm thinking WTF, something's not right. And then I was off...
Haha! Sounds like a cartoon.
I was filled with, I guess, existential dread. Very creepy and dark and scary. You know, the whole off-kilter mechanics your brain goes through on acid. Sometimes it sucks. Fear, yes. But nothing physically threatening. A week later I was fine. It was all in my head.
Yup. It usually is. You go out traveling a lot specifically to go there and shoot? Other cities and states? You seem to travel a lot and I am just curious if it is usually photography specific trips or family trips.
I try to work photo ops into my life whenever I can. Basically every waking moment is a potential photo op, so if those moments happen to be on trips that material can provide some fresh juice. But I don't schedule many photo trips just for that purpose, especially since the pandemic. Probably the last one was with you in LA. That said, I try to get around. I was with my kid at an Ultimate tournament in Minnesota a few weeks ago. And I'm heading to Canada soon for a family camping trip. So I'll have my camera and shoot whatever is handy. But that's just tagging onto pre-existing trips. I'm not picky. I can find photos pretty much any place any time. It's more of a challenge for me to turn the photo spigot off on occasion. So I've been working more on not seeing photos lately. It's hard.
Yeah. Perfect. Yes, every waking moment is a photo op. It’s true. Yeah, I’ve met some people who need to travel in order to shoot. Photos are everywhere.
They can be.
How far back does your unprocessed rolls go?
I process everything pretty close to when I shoot it. But printing takes longer, because that is basically my base edit, Yes/No. So it requires time and attention. I’m backlogged to about 2/20 right now. I'm just digging into pictures from our LA trip. And it's also just before the pandemic. So that period has some serious baggage.
What is an Ultimate tournament?
That was the US Open in Blaine, Minnesota. I haven't looked closely at my film yet but I don't think I got much.
Does your kid play or just a fan?
My youngest son was on the Oregon U-20 team. They did OK, 7th place.
Was becoming a father an easy transition for you?
This is like a reverse interview.
Haha!
Easy transition? No. But worthwhile. I evolved and at this point I can hardly remember a time before kids. So it's tough for me to look back and pick out transition points. You know, life goes on, and before you know it you're someone else.
How many reels does your development tank hold?
Four, so I do four rolls at a time, usually a few times a week or whenever they add up.
I was imagining a giant tank holding 20 at your place. And when you mention serious baggage, please elaborate.
The baggage of pre-pandemic life. It's been fun the past few months printing all these old rolls, right up to the edge of the virus. I'm at about February 2020 now printing. I know what's coming, but the person shooting them didn't. What strikes me now viewing them is the degree of freedom and socialization then. All these pictures of outings and events and people doing this and that. I was constantly attending events and gatherings. It's kinda weird to view now, from a future perspective. It still hasn't resumed. I'm not sure we'll ever get back to "normal”.
I don’t think it will ever get back. Have you had COVID?
Yes, and honestly Covid is mostly a non-factor for me. I kinda ignore it. Maybe that’s not so safe but whatever. I have no fear of it (my inner 17 year old speaking?) or much patience for it. I should probably be more wary. Maybe myself in 20 years looking back will have a better perspective. It usually does.
All photos by Jim Han unless otherwise noted.
