In what he calls "a bizarre confluence of coincidences", one photographer ended up quarantining with his mother and his ex-wife. No, that's not a sitcom tagline. That's Neil Kramer's life. But this experience did inspire Kramer to produce something comical—a photo series.
So, his two-bedroom New York City apartment transformed into a studio, and he together with the other two occupants became models of what eventually has turned out to be a funny yet accurate representation of the chaotic everyday life of the pandemic.
More info: neilkramerphotography.com | Instagram
#21 September 7, Quarantine In Queens, Day 173.labor Day 2020. The Family. Alone Together
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36points
#22 Sophia Has Been Experimenting With Different Types Of Effective Masks So I Could Go Outside, And She Tried This Combination Of Plastic, Paper Towels, And An Cut Piece Of An Air-Conditioning Filter That She Bought On Amazon After Reading That The Virus Can't Penetrate It. I Went Downstairs Wearing This Mask And It Really Worked Well, Almost Too Well, Because Within Minutes I Felt Myself Hyperventilating. So, Back To The Drawing Board
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35points
#24 September 13, Quarantine In Queens, Day 179
Neil: "Sophia, look what I found in my closet. It's the topper from our wedding cake."
Sophia: "That's not ours. It looks like it's from the 19th Century."
Neil: "Of course it's ours. Who else's could it be?"
Sophia: "Maybe it's your mother's. Mom! Is this from your wedding cake?!"
Mom: "Who remembers things like that? I barely remember what we ate for lunch. I don't think it's mine. Maybe it's my in-laws?"
Neil: "No, it's ours. Am I the only sentimental one here?"
Sophia: "You're the sentimental one?
Neil: "Are you kidding me? When we were moving your stuff into storage, you were going to throw away your wedding dress! I saved it and packed it in the box! It didn't matter if we were divorced or not. It's history! I even brought the wedding album back to New York! I keep track of everything."
Sophia: "We'll, let's look at our wedding album and we'll see if this was on top of our wedding cake."
I looked for our wedding album in my closet, my mother's closet, the bookshelves, the drawer chest.
Three hours later.
Sophia: So, where's the album?
Neil: "Uh..."
To be continued. Maybe.
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33points
#25 May 1, Quarantine In Queens, Day 50.the Queen Has Spoken. NYC Is Her Home. We're Not Running Away Like Some Other Families. Maine Wouldn't Want Us Anyway. You Can Keep Your Lobsters. We're Going To Redecorate The Dinette Instead
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30points
#26 July 22. Quarantine In Queens, Day 130
Five months of isolation have not been good for my mental health. I seem to spend half the day looking out the window, like a cat. And the other half eating, also like a cat. Yesterday, I signed up for a free text therapy session that is offered by New York City. I'm not sure how much it helped me, but it was nice chatting with an anonymous stranger, rather than boring all my friends with my problems. It seems like every other friend now uses the lame excuse "I can't talk right now. I'm in the middle of a Covid test" every time I call them up. Today, I tried a new approach. I thought to myself, "Is there anyone who knows me better than my own family? Why not just talk with them as my therapists rather than a stranger? They surely will get to the bottom of it, right?"
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28points
#27 August 15. Quarantine In Queens, Day 150
After getting positive reviews of my legs in a photo I showed on social media, I decided it was time to improve the upper half of my body during this pandemic. But as much as I tried to get attention from the women in the house, they were more interested in watching Outlander on TV.
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28points
#28 March 20, Quarantine In Queens, Day 8. All Of Us Together, Watching The News
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27points
#29 April 21, Quarantine In Queens, Day 40
Never in my life has food become so central to my existence. 3/4 of our conversations revolve around grocery stores, grocery lines, delivery times, what to eat at our next meal, snacking, and our weight. Most of our family fights even revolve around food, like who selfishly ate the last bag of pretzel sticks. Every night, we play cards where the winner doesn't get money, but exclusive rights to the fancy Belgian strawberry jam. It's all ridiculous, but true.
Last night we received a long-awaited delivery from Amazon Fresh. More accurately, it wasn't night but 5AM in the morning! The delivery person rang the lobby buzzer and we all woke up and waited by the closed front door, protected from any potential viral danger. We waited but we didn't hear any shuffling in the hall. I slid the door ajar, expecting our groceries to be sitting on our welcome mat, but nothing. My mother suggested that they left our groceries in the lobby by the mailbox, along with the other Amazon boxes.
I took the stairs downstairs to the lobby to discover another lost soul, some guy from the sixth floor, perusing the delivery boxes from Amazon and Walmart, searching for his name. He was wearing a homemade mask that matched the colors of his pajamas. We nodded to each other and he ran off.
I looked by the mailboxes and found our three big shopping bags of perishable groceries sitting on the floor. They only delivered half of what we ordered. There still was no way I could carry all these bags up the stairs, so for the first time in over a month, I decided it was time to enter the dreaded and dangerous ELEVATOR! I entered the elevator, which we had previously nicknamed "the death trap," and pressed the close button with my elbow, schlepping the groceries at my side. When I made it to my front door, I proceeded to go through my now-frequent ritual of spraying every product with Lysol and then wiping it down in the hallway before I brought it into the apartment. By 6 AM, I was asleep on the living room couch, snuggling a package of Thomas's English Muffins in my arms. We ate them at breakfast. They were delicious.
Last night we received a long-awaited delivery from Amazon Fresh. More accurately, it wasn't night but 5AM in the morning! The delivery person rang the lobby buzzer and we all woke up and waited by the closed front door, protected from any potential viral danger. We waited but we didn't hear any shuffling in the hall. I slid the door ajar, expecting our groceries to be sitting on our welcome mat, but nothing. My mother suggested that they left our groceries in the lobby by the mailbox, along with the other Amazon boxes.
I took the stairs downstairs to the lobby to discover another lost soul, some guy from the sixth floor, perusing the delivery boxes from Amazon and Walmart, searching for his name. He was wearing a homemade mask that matched the colors of his pajamas. We nodded to each other and he ran off.
I looked by the mailboxes and found our three big shopping bags of perishable groceries sitting on the floor. They only delivered half of what we ordered. There still was no way I could carry all these bags up the stairs, so for the first time in over a month, I decided it was time to enter the dreaded and dangerous ELEVATOR! I entered the elevator, which we had previously nicknamed "the death trap," and pressed the close button with my elbow, schlepping the groceries at my side. When I made it to my front door, I proceeded to go through my now-frequent ritual of spraying every product with Lysol and then wiping it down in the hallway before I brought it into the apartment. By 6 AM, I was asleep on the living room couch, snuggling a package of Thomas's English Muffins in my arms. We ate them at breakfast. They were delicious.
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27points
#30 April 16, Quarantine In Queens, Day 35.all The Hard-Working Health-Care And Essential Workers Out There Help Me See The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
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26points
In the unique setting of a small apartment, Neil Kramer has been capturing moments that reflect the unusual circumstances of quarantining with his mother and ex-wife. This arrangement, born out of necessity and unforeseen events, mirrors how some animals, like cats, adapt to new situations and environments. For instance, the social interactions of Tuna the cat show that animals can flourish even in unexpected company.
Explore how some animals make surprising friends, just like humans can form unconventional bonds in close quarters.
