Many of us felt lonely when we suddenly found ourselves in a world dictated by new rules of ethics — refraining from hugging, kissing, and even shaking hands. I’ve been hearing news of couples breaking up all the time since the start of the pandemic. Among my friends and acquaintances, many have ended relationships with their partners. Distance, or, conversely, forced closeness makes relationships during a pandemic a real test that not everyone is able to pass. In the midst of this madness, I met Polina on the Web, writing a couple of silly compliments to her work. For a while, we had to communicate only online, and when the situation around calmed down a bit, we met and decided that we needed to stay together.

Third

Time To Be Together

Alexey Pavlov
Independent
Russia

Alexey Pavlov is a Russian visual artist working with photography and archive. Comes from the Borogontsy village in the country’s coldest Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Currently based in Saint-Petersburg. His work focuses on the features and problems of socio-cultural interaction in the post-soviet space. Member of The Russian Union of Art Photographers since 2019.

[ COVID PICTURE STORY ] A multiple-picture story, essay, sequence or series based on daily coverage of general news or breaking news related to COVID-19. Each submission consists of 5 to 10 images. Each participant is allowed to enter up to 5 submissions. The images must be taken in 2019 or 2020.

Judges for Covid Picture Story
Abir Abdullah
Nariman El Mofty
Bryan van der Beek
Shiho Fukada
Wonsuk Choi