Estonian photographer Kadri Purje decided to travel around the world in a different way using only her cellphone to make photoshoots with ordinary women during Covid-19 in unusual way and travelled during that to USA, Colombia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Dominican Republic.
She writes in her blog:
„Taking pictures and capturing people on camera is my work life, and I want to do it even now, when I have to sit at home without personal contact with other people. It is still the case in life that some thoughts are coming to you not knowing how you got it, but it all came to me, that I have to make my crazy thought and idea come true and go on a trip around the world to take pictures of people. But how can this be done now at these times when many feel that something is impossible for them to do?
But to be honest, these photoshoots have probably been the hardest shootings of my life, and it's quite difficult to do that. I can't set the camera so precisely and move and show everything as needed or take pictures exactly as I would like. Most of them arranged for their men or a friend to help hold the phone, whom I then somehow tried to direct only with a live view call. Shooting times varied for everyone, with whom in the morning, with whom during the day, with whom in the evening / night, and when the light that is available is actually the most important thing for shooting. Some were able to take pictures in the yard, some are in state quarantine, where they are not allowed to leave the room, so the shooting environment was different and unique for each person. In addition, I didn't have my usual Canon camera, which is is in photography world already old, but fortunately I have the latest OnePlus series phone with a sufficient screen and image quality, but where the image quality also depended on the phones that women themselves have and also the Internet connection is one key element of that. And it's not taking pictures with your phone's camera or taking a picture in the usual way. Also, in addition to Estonian, I had to speak in both Estonian and English at the same time in many cases. And in the meantime, I was a little afraid that suddenly I wouldn't get anything and I'll let another person down that nothing came out. People still have a fear of failure when they don’t know what and how they will get, and in the end I am also a human being with my feelings. But after photographing a large number of women in this way, one could soon consider myself a specialist in this field, and some of them thought, why shouldn't I offer such sessions for real money and offer this emotion to others also at this moment when the world has virus situation going on. 😃 At least I can say that obviously now it is much more easier for me to take pictures with my Canon camera if I have gone through such a hard way with my phone alone.“
You can read more from her blog and see first pictures here: https://www.kadripurje.com/blogi/reis-umber-maailma/ and in coming weeks there will be posts and stories from each photoshoot.
You can follow her work also in Instagram where she will post those shoots: https://www.instagram.com/kadripurjephotography/
