Click the image to the left to view this photo essay.
When Seattle shut down non-essential businesses and services due to COVID-19, I hit the streets in the city’s core to see how social distancing would take place at the street level. A pandemic that forces “stay at home” works only for people with a home.
What happens to those who call the streets their home? Or to those who rely on the streets for their livelihoods? And what happens to the neighborhoods that have suddenly been evacuated by businesses, services, tourists and other forms of “non-essential” activities?
Between March 18 and 23, I spent as many hours as I could walking through SODO, Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market and Belltown with my camera and notebooks to explore those questions.
By the time I was done, I had arrived at several stark answers.
Mark White is a partner in a marketing agency and a street photographer who has lived in Seattle since 1985. His photography can be found at youpic.com/photographer/mjwhite.
Read more of the Apr. 1-7, 2020 issue.