Through a lens: Sarasota during the pandemic

For a photographer who thrives on snaps of social events, life in April 2020 is a far cry even from life two months ago as the coronavirus pandemic grinds daily life to a halt and puts the kibosh on gatherings large and small.  

However, Cliff Roles is on a mission to stay busy and show how we cope during the crisis. Enter the “Coronicals,” Roles’ new project to chronicle the coronavirus. 

“On March 12 or 13, they started canceling all the events that I’d been booked for, so all of a sudden I had nothing to do,” Roles said. “I had zero events to cover and zero income to look forward to.”

At that point, Roles looked back, editing old photos and releasing them to help folks reminisce on happier times. But he was going stir-crazy, he said and came up with the “Coronicals” to capture the age of social distancing. He decided to get creative, use his long lens and do “drive-by shootings” of people outside their homes, standing or playing or doing whatever it is they’ve been up to during isolation. 

“I remember a story in a photographic magazine or something like that about how photographers are trying to basically get over this time of unemployment and nothing to do,” Roles said. “I thought, ‘I could do this, I can put myself out there and drive by these people’s houses and just add a distance.” 

Since mid-March, Roles has been snapping between seven and 11 addresses a day and is booked two to three weeks in advance, though he posts available slots on his Facebook page when they pop up. Over Easter weekend, he snapped 28 appointments and captured Longboat Key resident Harold Ronson at his home on his 94th birthday, which was an “appropriately private party of one,” wrote Molly Schechter in an email. 

Each of his appointments takes only about five to 10 minutes. He drives by and snaps his subjects doing whatever they want to do. They come out — with masks — wearing bathrobes or aprons or wedding dresses or bikinis and have their photos taken. Roles takes measures to stay safe, wearing a mask, staying away and shooting with a long lens and at a distance, tells them to do whatever they want to show how they’re coping. 

“How are they dealing with the virus and staying at home and sheltering at home and, you know, not killing each other?” Roles said. 

Some, like Ronson, stand for a simple portrait or pose hugging family members, but others get a little more active or let their creativity flow. Some play basketball and one family put up a wall of toilet paper in the front yard. One of his friends hopped on a float in her pool with a bottle of champagne. 

“I said be as silly and be as innovative and imaginative as you can, because you'll never get the chance again,” Roles said. “You know, I mean, in a year's time, this whole exercise will come up on their Facebook memories and they'll be reminded of what they were doing today in a year. That's important.”

 Roles hopes to create a photography book out of the Coronicals project one day. 

Roles, who happened upon his medium of choice in about 2008, is a passionate photographer and a staple at the area’s many nonprofit fundraisers and social events, taking hundreds of photos which he then edits and puts on Facebook for event goers and locals to enjoy. What he’s doing now isn’t quite as exhausting as capturing massive events, because for this, it’s just a few photos from each appointment. 

“I'm in love with photography,” Roles said. “It's not just a job and it's certainly not money. It's the act of taking photographs, basically capturing that moment in time. It sounds cliche, but it's true. It's nice to be able to be Sarasota's photographer.”

Roles will continue his role as the area photographer for as long as he can, and continue the “Coronicles” project as long as social distancing necessitates it. 

“I'm having a lovely time doing it because I was going stir crazy myself indoors,” Roles said. “I keep hoping that I won't have to do it for much longer, obviously. I'm willing to do it for as long as people want me to do it.”