I sit here with 123 days until the new year. 2020, oh 2020. You have warped my perception of time. How many lifetimes have I lived in this year alone? At the top of this year (which feels like a distant memory) my partner and I welcomed in our beautiful baby boy to a world which was falling apart. At this point, chaotic news was washing up on our shores about COVID-19 and we were all trying to figure it out. How naive and unprepared we were for the events that followed; total lock down, more killing of Black Americans, death of so many of our heros and the media coverage and fall out from it just to name a few things.

I found myself wanting to check in with my friends, loved ones or anyone I had the privilege meeting during this trying time. We would talk about mental health, the state of the world and how we were coping with it all. As a collective, we all have been affected by the pandemic, we have very similar experiences and also unique experiences. These conversations, or check-ins, seemed to help us get through our days, as the events of this year piled on.

See the full project by clicking here.

ALLSHIPS: Why is storytelling an important practice for you?

DANE ISAAC: Living a Black human experience, history is so important when it comes to understanding one's self. Storytelling for me is actively scribing, anecdotes in the open book of history.

How has community propelled you along your path? And how has that community impacted your experience over the past years?

Aw man, I wouldn’t be anywhere without the photography community. The constant motivation and comradery has maintained my sanity and indirectly my career as a creator.

What have you taken away from this project? Are you closer with your subjects? Are you more connected to their stories?

Going into this project, I underestimated how much these stories were going to affect me. The stories were all intimate and vulnerable, which made me add a next level of seriousness/ responsibility to my storytelling. I definitely feel more connected to their stories, because of how vulnerable everyone was, I would definitely say I am closer to each subject than before.

What lessons have you taken away from the experience of isolation?

It's important to find peace in silence.

How do you plan to move forward creatively once the world opens back up?

I hope to continue doing community-based projects. This one really hit the switch for me on a mental and emotional level. I don't want to create without care anymore.

You can see even more from the project on this Youtube Playlist