© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Baltimore Photography Teacher Celebrates Canceled Prom With Socially Distanced Portraits

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Senior proms throughout the country have been canceled due to the pandemic, but a photography teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts has found a way to celebrate prom season through socially distanced portraits. WYPR's Emily Sullivan reports.

EMILY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Emilia Vizachero is posing for photographer Joe Giordano on the steps of her soon-to-be alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts.

JOE GIORDANO: Can I get a shot of you taking the - like, take the mask off from the front for me. I guess I'm far enough away. I - my viewfinder keeps fogging up because of the mask.

SULLIVAN: Vizachero obliges and slowly removes a royal-blue mask that perfectly matches her skirt.

EMILIA VIZACHERO: I thought, you know, with this new situation, if I'm going to be wearing a mask, I might as well make an outfit out of it. So I did.

SULLIVAN: For Vizachero and the rest of her graduating class, there is no prom this year. But Giordano, who teaches a black-and-white photography class at the school, wanted to give the seniors a sense of normalcy by documenting the milestones. So the award-winning photojournalist set up a black backdrop on the school's art deco steps and invited students to come by dressed in their would-be prom outfits.

GIORDANO: Unfortunately, we can't do dates. We can't do two people 'cause of social distancing. But it actually works out better because the students are - feel more comfortable modeling and not so stiff as, like, a formal prom, old-school yearbook picture. And I don't pose them. I - it's kind of more of, like, a collaboration. I let them do the posing so they feel comfortable with how they want to be represented.

SULLIVAN: Dozens of seniors dropped by the school donned in their finest attire. Most of them hadn't seen each other in months. Samantha Buker is a program manager at the school and an alumni. She says she's proud of the close-knit class for obeying social distancing during the photo shoots.

SAMANTHA BUKER: You know, just leaving the school on a normal day, they...

(SOUNDBITE OF KISSING NOISES)

BUKER: You know, bye, et cetera. So I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to keep them apart, but they're ace champions about it.

SULLIVAN: Some seniors say they're especially disappointed prom was canceled because of the weird and wonderful outfits always showcased there. Here's senior Ethan Pound.

ETHAN POUND: A good friend of mine that graduated two years ago wore jorts (ph) to prom his senior year and, like, a pink polo shirt. Like - and there's just such a wide variety of people making their own outfits, you know, and dressing up in weird ways for the occasion.

SULLIVAN: Pound donned a slick blue velvet jacket for his portrait. Isabelle Rawa were a bold red blazer.

ISABELLE RAWA: I bought this in, like, the winter. And then I thought, oh, this would be great for prom.

SULLIVAN: Prom was just one thing taken away from the seniors. As they waited their turn to pose for Giordano, they dreamed aloud of what would've been. Again, here's Rawa.

RAWA: I'm a violinist, so I've played in the graduation for all three years that I've been here. And I was so excited to finally have them play for me as I'm, like, walking up and walking down.

SULLIVAN: Rawa and fellow senior Joshua Moore mourned the loss of one crucial tradition.

JOSHUA MOORE: It's kind of really hard to describe how this has been. It's, like, really been sad, honestly. Like, we were, like, really excited to have, like, a senior prank. I was looking forward to that.

RAWA: We were going to wrap up all of the chairs in the recital hall (laughter).

SULLIVAN: The seniors are clear - having the festivities of senior week and graduation taken away unequivocally hurts. But, they say, at least they'll have the prom portraits. Vizachero says she hopes that a few years from now, she'll be able to look back on the portraits that Giordano took and feel joy.

VIZACHERO: This is definitely a senior year that we are not going to forget, and I think having a picture that's kind of unique like this is something that I'll be grateful for.

SULLIVAN: For NPR News, I'm Emily Sullivan in Baltimore. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.