When a hard lockdown was announced for the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area in Sydney, preventing residents from leaving the council for non-essential work, all of Cara O’Dowd’s jobs disappeared.
The fashion photographer had regular work lined up in a neighbouring area, but could not go. She was stuck “in a cage”.
Fashion photographer Cara O’Dowd
One morning she was wondering how she was going to keep sane. In the lockdown of 2020 she had not done much photographically. “I kinda just freaked out, like everybody else,” she says. This time, however, she was determined to keep a camera in her hand.
“I was literally in bed thinking, ‘How can I do this?’” she says. And it occurred to her: “I’m not allowed out of my house to work, but I’m allowed to stand inside my house and take photos.”
Ben, Amelia and Raider; Vanessa
So she set up a makeshift open-air portrait studio outside her home to capture those in her community as they walked by. She posted about it on a closed local Facebook group, offering free portraits to locked-down locals, alongside directions to stay within Covid restrictions (masks, no dawdling, no lining up, etc). Her husband and three-year-old daughter wrote “FREE PORTRAITS” in chalk on the footpath so that people know she didn’t want anything from them.
Gabby, Bernard, Jules and Bernice
She has snapped people walking their dogs, newborn babies who haven’t been able to have a proper photo taken, mothers with their kids out for a bit of fresh air – and most people have been up for a chat. Before the lockdown, O’Dowd, who was new to the area, had only spoken to the neighbours either side of her.
“I’m from a small town, and I’m used to everyone talking to me. This was a way for me to keep working, but also to meet lots of people and to feel good,” she says.
Mel and Ruby; Ben and his dog
“There’s a lot of bad stuff from Covid, but it really gives you that sense of community because everyone is locked in and you feel together. And yeah, this has been nice for that.”
