Pandemic Portraits

How 14 families in the Inland Northwest are coping through quarantine in the era of COVID-19, and all that social isolation entails. All images were created for this project between April 2 and May 14, 2020 by freelance photojournalist Libby Kamrowski (@libbykphotography) to document the pandemic throughout Eastern Washington in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Newman Lake and in North Idaho from Post Falls, Coeur d’ Alene and Rathdrum. For licensing and inquiries regarding use of images in the Pandemic Portraits photo story, please email l.kamrowski@hotmail.com.

kayla & mike

Fiancees Kayla Cartelli and Mike Rideout are seen from the doorway of in their garage with pallets of retired firehose in the Audobon neighborhood of Spokane, Wash. on April 3, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair independently owns and operates a business called American Fire Co. to create goods from the firehose, fulfilling orders in the garage they built specifically for their business. The pair have seen an uptick in online orders by 20 percent during the pandemic. The couple decided to postpone their wedding until 2021 in order to proceed with their families in attendance. Cartelli works as a program coordinator at Gonzaga University and has worked from home for about three weeks, and Rideout works as a wildland firefighter.

Kayla and Mike with their dogs, Scout and Kona.

Arcelia Martin, Liana Mills, Molly Burns and Jackie Lozaw are Gonzaga seniors who, like students all over the state of Washington, could not have guessed a global pandemic would break out and interrupt their last year of higher education. Gonzaga moved all classes online after spring break for the rest of the semester due to COVID-19, but the majority of the house at 303 Augusta is riding out the rest of the virtual semester together in Spokane instead of from their family homes. Graduation was postponed until September, meaning students like Martin will have already started grad school before technically being awarded their Bachelor’s Degrees.

gonzaga university seniors, group one

jen & wil

Jen Daughtery and Wil Catlow pose for a photo in front of their new home in the East Central neighborhood of Spokane, Wash on April 10, 2020. The pair are engaged to be married in September and are crossing their fingers that the pandemic will be over by then so that it doesn’t affect the wedding. Daughtery works for the Department of Corrections and Catlow is the fire department captain at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake.

Jen and Wil’s dog, a Corgi / Bassett Hound mix, named Carly.

backyard hair salon, with Megan Rowe and sons

Megan Rowe gives her 5-year-old son Joe Heinrich a haircut on the porch in their backyard in the South Hill Neighborhood of Spokane, Wash. on April 4, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all non-essential businesses, including hair salons and barber shops, have been closed for weeks. Typically, Rowe doesn’t cut her sons’ hair, but she decided to take the scissors into her own hands.

Robby Heinrich shows off the goop of pink hair dye while dying his mom’s hair on the porch in their backyard in the South Hill Neighborhood of Spokane, Wash. on April 4, 2020.

Megan Rowe gets her hair dyed hot pink by her 10-year-old son, Robby Heinrich.

5-year-old Joe Heinrich and Zoe the dog watch his older brother Robby give their mother, Megan Rowe, a hot pink hair-dyed makeover.

Megan Rowe poses for a window portrait with her sons, 5-year-old Joe Henrich (left) and 10-year-old Robby Henrich, at their South Hill home in Spokane, Wash. on April 4, 2020. The family has been self-quarantining since March 14, long before the official Stay Home Stay Healthy order went out in Washington State, because Megan is in an extremely at-risk population due to a heart failure condition called pregnancy-induced cardiomyopathy. Megan is single mother who has felt the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping up with her job as a full-time reporter with The Spokesman-Review and also homeschooling the boys since March 16 when schools closed.

Sage Jensen (left) and Erica Patterson are teammates-turned-roomates who play for Coeur d’ Alene Roller Derby under the derby names Ziggy Scardust and Marilyn MonRage, respectively. Here they stand for a Pandemic Portrait at their house in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho on April 14, 2020. Though three of the team’s games have been canceled this season due to COVID-19., “Rage” and “Ziggy” have been keeping busy with work and otherwise coping with the warm embrace of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Patterson ordinarily works as a professional hair dresser but Idaho’s COVID-19 restrictions currently prohibit the profession. For the time being, she is restricted to only working her other job at Trickster’s Brewing Company for pickups and deliveries, as is Jensen but at her job as a server at Capone’s Pub & Grill.

derby girls ‘‘ziggy scardust” and “marilyn monRage’’

Antony Del Monte, age 7, shows his feelings for quarantining during a a Pandemic Portrait at his grandmother Linda Camp’s house in Rathdrum, Idaho on April 10, 2020.

three generations in idaho

Cynthia Del Monte, 8-year-old Leopoldo, and Linda Camp pose for a Pandemic Portrait at Camp’s house in Rathdrum, Idaho on April 10, 2020. Del Monte’s job as a manager at a local department store was furloughed and her three sons, two of which are not pictured, are all elementary-aged students who are homeschooling. Camp had been helping the boys with schoolwork before Del Monte was furloughed, but she has experienced the disruption of daily life due to COVID-19 as well: since she is part of the Blazin’ Divas, she explained the performance group is rehearsing for the upcoming Fourth of July parade via virtual meetings.

molly & libby

Molly Sherwood and Libby Nielsen are fiancees who met as rugby captains of opposing teams (Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University, respectively) while in college. Now the two own a home in Spokane Valley, Wash, and pose for photos through the window on April 7, 2020. Nielsen works as a member of the Department of Justice and Sherwood is a fishieries technician for the Kalispell Tribe of Indians. Though Nielsen is considered an employee and Sherwood’s work is on pause due to the Stay Home, Stay Healthy mandate to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading further in Washington state, Sherwood has kept the quarantine blues at bay by taking on home improvement problems and keeping their pets, Kiwi and Catticus, company.

Catticus makes an appearance in the window on April 7, 2020.

utah the rugby coach

Sarah “Utah” Harmon poses for a Pandemic Portrait with her beloved dog Koopa at her house in Spokane, Wash. on April 16, 2020. “By now, the loss of live televised sports is old news. But for Sarah “Utah” Harmon, she didn’t just miss out on watching sports like the rest of the world, she lost a season of coaching. Harmon serves as head coach of Gonzaga University’s women’s club rugby team, and despite the endless hours of creating and coaching through pre-season workouts, weight training and field practices, the team lost its entire season before a single match could be played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lifelong rugger has been able to work her day job as an attorney from home, with the help of Koopa and her cats.

the hudson family

The Hudson family poses for a Pandemic Portrait on April 17, 2020 at their home on the South Hill in Spokane, Wash. Mother Kate, father Tom, and children Kendall and Davis Hudson are pictured. Kate has kept her job and works remotely as Visit Spokane’s Public Relations Manager, and Tom is “the voice of the Zags” as an announcer for Gonzaga University Athletics. Because all spring sports were cancelled by COVID-19, and the campus is nearly empty, Tom wasn’t able to announce the Zag baseball season this year, and instead has lended his voice to the microphone of a karaoke machine in order to tell Kendall and Davis their daily agenda, and say the Pledge of Allegiance to maintain structure at home.

Kate Hudson looks out the front window of her living room before bringing the whole family in for a Pandemic Portrait on April 17, 2020.

Tom Hudson lends his legendary voice to the microphone of a karaoke machine in order to tell Kendall and Davis their daily agenda, and guide them through the Pledge of Allegiance.

Fiancees Corinne Cahill and Jason Stay pose for a Pandemic Portrait on April 17, 2020 with pitbulls Bailey and Charlie at their house in Newman Lake, Wash.

corinne & jason

Fiancees Corinne Cahill and Jason Stay pose for a Pandemic Portrait on April 17, 2020 at their house in Newman Lake, Wash. The couple planned are first-time homeowners and had only stayed at the home for three nights at the time this photograph was taken, following a period of intense renovations. The couple did the majority of renovations themselves and with a single contractor because COVID-19 made it unsafe for Cahill an Stay’s family to help with the work and moving process. Both have kept their jobs, Cahill works from home for a software engineering company, and Stay as essential personnel for Numerica Credit Union. The pair hopes that their upcoming fall wedding won’t have to be rescheduled, but fostering animals from local shelters will keep them busy in the meantime.

gonzaga university seniors, group two

If anyone knows the widespread effects of the pandemic in society, its seniors in college and high school. From left: Gonzaga University seniors and housemates Stephanie Kreamer, Morgan Scheerer, Willa Hegerty, Lisa Brinton and Justine Canterbury pose for a Pandemic Portrait in the Logan neighborhood of Spokane, Wash. This five member house of seniors have lamented the cancellation of senior ball, graduation, end of year gatherings and of course, the cancellation of in-person classes and organizations. The Zags plan to ride out the rest of the semester in Spokane before their lease ends in May, before returning again for graduation which has been scheduled for September.

Stephanie Bigler Coates sits for a Pandemic Portrait on a sunny spring day on April 10, 2020 in Post Falls, Idaho.

homeschooling with the coates

Gracie Mai Coates, age 9, is homeschooled by mother Stephanie Bigler Coates on April 10, 2020 in Post Falls, Idaho.

Triston Smith, age 17, quietly works on homework in the Coates household on April 10, 2020 in Post Falls, Idaho. Luckily for Smith, he has kept his job at a local fast food restaurant during the pandemic, but has transitioned to virtual classes during the ever-pivotal junior year of high school, an important grade for college acceptance and scholarship qualifications. Because Smith’s younger sister Gracie Mai is immunocompromised with arthritis, she is considered a vulnerable population, and her family is being extra vigilant to keep her safe from COVID-19.

The Coates family stands for a Pandemic Portrait on a sunny spring day on April 10, 2020 in Post Falls, Idaho. The family has seen significant ups and downs during this time: father Dustian Coates has kept his job as an essential employee for the state of Idaho’s DOC, but mother Stephanie Bigler Coates qualified for unemployment after her hours at a local daycare. 5-year-old Jacob, 9-year-old Gracie Mai, and 17-year-old Triston Smith have all transitioned to virtual classes and a homeschooling model that has proved to have its own challenges. Because Gracie Mai is immunocompromised with arthritis, she is considered a vulnerable population, and her family is being extra vigilant to keep her safe from COVID-19.

The Green family has been getting through COVID-19 at their home in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho together; here they pose for a Pandemic Portrait on April 14, 2020. Both parents have kept their jobs through the pandemic, father Travis as an HVAC instructor at Spokane Community College, able to record and post lessons online for students and otherwise meeting through Zoom, and mother Torri as an administrative assistant for the City of Coeur d’ Alene’s wastewater department. 13-year-old Hadley and 7-year-old Amelia have kept busy with schoolwork and outside activities like roller skating and riding bikes, and have even stayed connected with friends through video meetups.

the green family

Amelia Green, age 7, plays with a hulu hoop at her family’s home in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 14, 2020. Amelia recently celebrated her eighth birthday, though without a regular birthday party and while recovering from a tonsillectomy.

the momono family

The Momono family (Ayuko, 2-year-old Yulianna, and Christina Momono) poses for a Pandemic Portrait at their house in Spokane, Wash. on April 30, 2020. Christina has retained her job as an adjunct instructor at Gonzaga and SFCC, but Ayuko’s contract at SFCC ended early due to international students returning early to their home countries due to COVID-19. It allowed Ayuko time to construct an elaborate playhouse for Yulianna, and more time to finish getting a certificate from EWU. “Due to the increase of Asian hate crime, my wife is hesitant to go out,” Christina Momono said. “She’s from Japan, but most Americans blend all Asian countries together. So I do most of our grocery runs. And if she does go out- we go together.”

A handmade sign hangs in the front window of the Momono household as seen on April 30, 2020.