Breakfast with the LA Times is a departure from my customary photography projects, just as the life I was forced to lead during the pandemic was a departure from my work and time spent photographing landscapes. These still lifes started as a result of a Zoom exercise class with fellow film technicians during lockdown. Our teacher formed a private Facebook group to help us stay motivated. She suggested we post photos of what we were eating so she could monitor our food choices. I started taking quick photos of my breakfast with my iPhone and inevitably there would be a copy of the Los Angeles Times laying next to my meal on the kitchen counter. One day I included a photo of Barack Obama from the paper thinking I could use a dose of inspiration.
I stopped posting these photos on Facebook but I kept taking them every morning. Newspapers have always been a special part of my life. I learned to read while sitting on my father’s lap as he turned the pages of the Louisville Courier Journal and I spent a college semester as a copygirl and and news clerk at The New York Times. I realized every day that the paper was getting smaller and smaller. Thus my daily photograph also became a tribute to the talent and energy that goes into every story, photograph and headline with the awareness that the physical newspaper will soon be a relic.
My breakfast photograph became a morning ritual during which I could contemplate and process the loss of human life, community, and economic well being that the pandemic was causing around the world. It helped me confront the issues of systemic racism, injustice and corruption in our country. Every day the entertainment news and the comics offered some relief from the chaos. In my photos I included references to people I had worked with or favorite places in California.
Rituals as defined by Google can give us a sense of control when life gets challenging, help us alleviate grief, and forge a sense of belonging and common identity. Maybe photographing The LA Times and my simple meals became a ritual that gave me a sense of belonging in the middle of isolation and loss…it certainly started my day with a sense of purpose and relief.