Lost summer - Alys tomlinson (Pandemic Work)

I wanted to explore the ways that photographers have worked throughout the pandemic to inspire me. After Rachel Brown’s talk I looked up a project that she had mentioned, it was Alys Tomlinson’s ‘Lost Summer’. The project was shot between June and August 2020 and featured portraits of local teenagers dressed in their prom outfits. All proms were cancelled last year due to COVID-19.

Alys went out a photographed the teens in local parks and their gardens, rather than the function rooms and school halls that they would have been at. She explained that many of the teenagers had, had their final exams cancelled and then their prom too. Leaving them without any significant event of leaving school. All of the images were taken in north London and all of the students are aged between 15-19.

Alys says that the images represent the loss and longing that the teenagers are feeling but also the celebration of each individual student who had to navigate through this difficult time period. Since creating this project, three of the images have won 1st prize in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2020. I love the idea of this project and finding a way to continue photographing throughout the pandemic, it is taking a difficult situation and turning it into a memoir.

To view more of the images and to purchase the project in book form visit: http://www.alystomlinson.co.uk/personal/lost-summer/