IMAGE JOURNAL

Quarantine Creativity featured by Clio Awards

Living in New York City means when the city-wide quarantine started I was basically stuck in my apartment with my family for months with very little creative opportunities. I am accustom to bouncing from one production to the next sometimes shooting six or seven assignments in a week, then overnight I became a second-grade assistant teacher, IT and designated shopper. The lack of creative opportunities made for a really difficult transition and I was desperate to find a creative outlet.

By April I was going crazy without the daily practice of creating images and one day while doomscrolling Instagram I saw an image by my London photographer friend, Phil Adams and his recreation of Blondie’s Parallel Lines album cover using found objects from around the house including all those extra rolls of toilet paper. At that moment I knew I had found my next project. With very little to work with, whatever we had in the apartment, the project was exactly the sort of creative challenge I needed.

The moment I pulled out the small lighting kit I have at home and setup the lights I felt whole again. It was like night and day. The bonus of shooting with my family added to the fun. We started rummaging through closets, crafting together, and laughing as we did. The perfect antidote to the limitations of quarantine.

A friend of mine Nancy Goldwin and her partner, also in quarantining in Florida tipped off one of her friends at the Clio Awards, Tim Nudd, the Editor in Chief who was writing a series about album art and they did a profile on the series. You can check it out below. For what it is worth, quarantine has reminded me how important art is in my life, how connected we need to be to our friends and what a blessing it is to be stuck inside with my family. COVID-19 is the worst and the devastation and effects of the pandemic will be with me and all of use for the rest of our lives but I am grateful in a perverse way that it reinforced my commitment to photography and developing a project.

Michel Leroy

Michel Leroy is an award-winning photographer based in New York City. Working with a select team of professional creatives at 2X Productions LLC they create advertising campaigns and social media solutions for advertising, media and corporate clients. Repeatedly clients including The Food Network, Adidas, Nike, Intel, Lenovo, GE, Pfizer, Bayer and L'Oreal have trusted Michel Leroy to connect their brands to customers through photographs with insight and narrative. Michel Leroy is a brand ambassador for Manfrotto US, Lastolite by Manfrotto and the range of Vitec brands in the professional photographic community.