Photographer

Hunter Jensen

Finalist in

Open Category

Written Statement

Because of the COVID–19 lockdown across the world and the Australian federal government asking everyone to self-isolate at home to protect themselves and other people, I decided to take a walk around Brisbane City with my camera while adhering to heavy social distancing guidelines to catalogue the streets, where they have become empty instead of being full of life.

While I was in the city, I did not expect to see many homeless people who were unprotected against the virus. With a fair amount of consideration, I decided to carefully photograph them because I wanted to raise the issue that they are also human and we should help them however we can, even in the face of a global epidemic.

The three photographs I have submitted are collectively titled Homecoming and the theme of ‘Fragility’ is explored through society’s social distancing towards those who are not as fortunate in these circumstances.

When I took my photographs with my Canon EOS R and the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4 L IS USM, I enabled silent shooting and I cropped the sensor 1.6× to turn the 85mm focal length into 136mm for photographing from a farther distance. All of these camera changes were done for not disturbing the general public as well to capture the candid moments that reflected the issue.

For my compositions, I aimed for a close up perspective to show how the homeless community have been separated from the public because of the new regulations and that inadvertently makes them invisible in the face of a larger problem. The black and white colour choice was done to further highlight how this issue is universal amongst us. In times like this, we need to do what we can to support them.