Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park
 Millennium Park Christmas Tree the day before thanksgiving. |  Millennium Monument lit up with red and green lights. Family stands admiring it and taking pictures of it |
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 Ice Skating Ribbon located in Maggie Daley Park. Groups of people passing by having a great time with friends and family |  Millennium Park Christmas Tree Dec 9 2020. Many people gathered around the tree, admiring it and taking photos with their family. |
 Maggie Daley Ice Skating Ribbon. A group of girls stopped to look at someones phone while drinking hot coco. |  Maggie Daley Park Ice Skating Ribbon, a girl holds onto railing waiting for her family behind her. |
 Millennium Park Christmas Tree the day before thanksgiving. A couple casually strolls by the tree after walking through the park. |
Water Tower Place Mall
 While the CTA train was not taking passengers this year, people still got to see it ride by the city all lit up in Christmas lights |  A lobby of the Water Tower Place Mall located next to Macys. Taken the day after Black Friday, many deals were still in place. You can see people getting some holiday shopping done. |
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 Taken in the American Girl Doll store, you can see families getting some holiday shopping in after Black Friday. |  People wait for the cross walk to turn to get to their new shopping destination outside the American Girl Doll Store. |
 A girl walks towards me while looking at all the snowflake decorations that line the pathway. |  Many people walk by the Christmas light located in this common space while walking through the mall. |
 A family stops to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree. |  Another family stops to take a picture in front of a tree, while the sisters hug as the mom tries to get a great photo. |
 Trumpets line the lower level of the Macys Store. You can see people holding bags as they are getting some holiday shopping in. People stopped admiring the band playing Christmas music as they wait for the crosswalk. |  A husband waits for his wife while him and his kids look at one of the Macys window displays. |
Artist Statement
The holiday season is something I have always enjoyed. It's a time to see loved ones, spread cheer, and see all the beautiful light displays and decorations. Since the pandemic arose back in March, we haven't had much time to see family and people aren't in the greatest of moods. Therefore, people have been looking forward to the holiday season for these reasons, but with the pandemic still going on, I was wondering how much it's going to change. I wanted to capture and showcase the holiday season in Chicago and how it's different due to the ongoing pandemic. I want the viewer to see how the holiday season has changed with Covid-19 and how people still decided to celebrate it.
My collection is titled “A Pandemic Christmas” as it is a documentary of how people chose to experience the holiday season in the middle of a pandemic. I visited three of the main places people go to celebrate and see the lights. I visited Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, and the Water Tower Place Mall. I took pictures of the activities people were doing like shopping and admiring decorations. The holidays have always been my favorite time of the year, and I wanted to see how people adapted to see lights while the pandemic is still going on.
Photography is one of the best ways to document a particular time like a pandemic, which is why I decided to use it. My work would be best expressed through color, as using color will help show that it's the holidays through colored lights and the various Christmas decorations. I want to use the aspects of realism in my photos by showing things how they are as you would actually see them. The project is relevant to today's time because this is the first time people are experiencing a pandemic during the holiday seasons, so I want to showcase how it is different this year, and how people still decided to go out and see all the lights and Christmas trees.