Dispatched: Herald photographers share their stay-at-home experience

As churches in the area closed due to the Coronavirus I decided to join other St. Louis area photographers in taking front porch photos. With Easter weekend coming up and people realizing they would be having unconventional Easter holidays, I decided to reach out to families for an alternative to traditional Easter photos. Pictured is Dan and Christy Hempen and their three children Trinity, Nehemiah and their new baby Chloe.

Words by Abigail James

When the coronavirus began to ramp up, we were thrust into a new way of life. We left our dorms and apartments and went back to our hometowns. Now we wait for the next coronavirus update from our governor. We sit here looking at Blackboard assignments and Zoom meetings. We wait for things to return back to normal while realizing this has become the new normal. We put our best foot forward in hopes it’ll all wash over with the passing of the days while in reality, all of the days seem to blend like the colors of the sunset. There is no set end, no telling when the true beginning of this all was. As the photo staff of the Herald, we have separated but we still work together. In this section, we show things that we have tapped into at home like nature, family and emotion. That no matter how hard life gets, life goes on, and we all have a unique story.