These Polaroid photos document our lives as COVID-19 started breaking out around the US. Dallas County was the first county in Texas to issue a shelter-in-place order on March 22. My wife and I live in a fairly large apartment complex in an area called City Place which is located near downtown Dallas. When we heard about those orders and the spread of the virus we thought it would be best to leave the city if we could.
My brother and his wife went to Oklahoma to stay in a cabin they had been building. They went there to get away and finish the construction of it so it was ready to rent when things got better. Their main house is really nice and located in the countryside of Heath, Texas. They offered their house to us to stay in during the shelter-in-place orders so we could be safer from the virus and be more comfortable.
Heading to Heath, Texas
We really appreciated the offer and took them up on it. We packed up a month’s worth of clothes and stuff and headed out there with our two dogs. I brought my original and still working Polaroid SLR 680, I bought it at an estate sale years ago, and several packs of Polaroid photos. The Polaroid camera was for us to casually document this COVID-19 shelter-in-place experience together.
We arrived there Monday evening on March 24th and ended up staying there for 6 weeks until May 5th. That short time ended up being very eventful for us. Our beloved dog Gambit sadly started getting really sick to the point we had to put him to sleep. I also was laid off due to the impact COVID-19 was having on my company. Fortunately, though, they gave me a three-week notice and that was enough time for me to find another job to start just as my other one ended.
Trying To Stay Busy
We did quite a bit of stuff to keep us busy during the downtime. Things like working on the landscaping, cleaning the house, and watching movies. It was a very interesting and memorable experience that I’m glad I documented with these Polaroid photos.
