The Best 20 Fine Art Images Of 2023 According To The 2023 PX3 Prix De La Photographie Paris

Bored Panda reached out to Chris Sorensen, the author of the ‘Wife During Quarantine’ series. We wanted to gain more insights into his work and we asked him to describe the initial motivation behind starting to shoot portraits of his wife during quarantine. Here’s what we learned: “Covid ended all of my assignments and while I’ve always been a big believer in personal projects, I couldn’t even be around other people to make my own work. Remote portraiture had little appeal since personal interaction with my subject is a big part of portraiture for me. So for weeks I doomscrolled and didn’t shoot. Then one day I had an idea for a portrait of my wife and we made it, and then another a couple of days later. And I realized I had all the different people I needed in my quarantine partner, my wife Maggie Gregg, and together we started creating in our little NYC apartment.”

We were wondering which specific moment or photo from this series holds particular significance for Sorensen. The photographer shared with us: “Our Handmaid image is probably my most significant image from the project. It was made in response to and in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. Artistically, it’s an elevation of my work and a result of a mindset in the project of trying to make my work more graphic, more abstract, more deliberately art. At the same time, it’s the first image I made with an overt political message and I discovered I want to make art that comments on socio-political topics.”

Chris told us a bit more about the dynamic of working with his wife: “I was incredibly lucky to have a partner on this who was not only willing but passionate about the project, and who also had incredible hair, makeup and styling skills. And as someone from the corporate world, not anything related to photography or the industry. Her enthusiasm and skill meant that we really weren’t constrained as much by our isolation and pandemic limitations. If I had an idea, she could make it work. Or more accurately, come up with something even better than I had imagined. Her conceptual and technical skills were crucial to the project and added so much.”

Lastly, we wanted to know if looking back, Sorensen feels this project has contributed to his overall body of work and personal growth as a photographer. Chris said: “Initially the project was just a way to do something, anything, other than sit around and think about the pandemic. But it very quickly became an avenue for expanding my skillset and growing as an artist. And I discovered a passion for making socio-political art that I continued within the project and after.”