Right now, we’re all going through a new and shared experience, coping with limitations imposed on our daily lives while searching for ways to maintain our connections. Art remains a meaningful way to express creativity in a time of crisis.

Vancouver-based photographer Ryan Walter Wagner has been documenting the local scene for many years, but with his shoots on indefinite pause he’s been inspired to find a new way to look at the world and reassess his technical and creative approach. Wagner’s latest Through the Window portrait project captures individuals in isolation through a pane of glass. 

Teaming up with BeatRoute, Wagner has dedicated a portion of his ongoing series to shooting Vancouver-based musicians in their self-quarantined surroundings. From renowned hardcore legend Joey Shithead of DOA to Becky Black from The Pack AD, Jenny Lea of I M U R, Zachary Gray from The Zolas, DJ/producer Betty Mulat, Sean Orr of NEEDS, and songwriters Jordan Klassen, Louise Burns, and Jody Glenham, we’ve been given new insight into their creative processes that in many cases have been temporarily halted. 

Strolling around the city with his camera in tow, Wagner has been keeping a safe distance while discovering more perspective than he ever expected to gain from the project.

“My job is to photograph people and all the people are isolating at home, so I decided I would have to adjust and move forward instead of remaining creatively idle,” he says. “Uncertainty surrounds us as we keep our chins up and hope for the best, all the while being blanketed by a very somber feeling that is more nervous than we’d prefer. Our paths are undetermined like never before, but through it all one thing is for sure; we’re all in this together.”

For more photos from Ryan Walter Wagner, check out Good Side Photo. 

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