{"id":90645,"date":"2020-10-16T10:54:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T07:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/molly-choma-captures-eerie-empty-flights-during-covid-19-wildfires\/"},"modified":"2020-10-16T10:54:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T07:54:12","slug":"molly-choma-captures-eerie-empty-flights-during-covid-19-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/molly-choma-captures-eerie-empty-flights-during-covid-19-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"#Molly Choma captures eerie, empty flights during COVID-19, wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Molly Choma captures eerie, empty flights during COVID-19, wildfires<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n As we hurtle toward the maybe-it-will-happ<\/a>en-maybe-it-won\u2019t holiday travel<\/a> season, let\u2019s check in on the state of the friendly skies.<\/p>\n

The number of airline passengers may have dropped by 96 percent<\/a> at the height of the pandemic, but planes still took off. And when flight attendant Molly Choma realized she was one of the few remaining flight attendants working, she knew she had to document it, both to create an archive of what life was like for her and her colleagues, and also as a way for her to process what was going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pattern of human resilience is amazing,\u201d the San Francisco-based freelance photographer, 33, told Insider<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year. \u201cBut it\u2019s really important to have these times on some sort of record.\u201d<\/p>\n

With her Nikon camera, the Alaska Airlines employee recorded scenes on the ground and up in the air during the first peak of the coronavirus crisis this spring.<\/p>\n

Choma called them \u201cheavy.\u201d And \u201csurreal.\u201d And \u201cweighted,\u201d too.<\/p>\n

She shoots only consenting fellow flight attendants, never passengers, and some evocative tableaus are recreated from what she observed when the flight attendants were working. She then posts them on her Instagram feed<\/a> with descriptive captions that documented the increasing severity of the situation as spring wore into summer<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery passenger takes pictures of how empty the planes are as soon as they realize they get their own row, own bathroom, own flight attendant and a whole can of whatever they want,\u201d she wrote in a photo posted on March 28<\/a>. \u201cBy now I\u2019ve been to most of the quarantined cities feeling like I\u2019ve survived some sort of apocalypse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Molly Choma<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On April 5, before mask mandates were commonplace, she wrote<\/a>: \u201cFlight attendants are now allowed to wear masks while on duty\u2026 Most of the passengers have masks to and from the airport and then half of them actually keep it on the whole flight. Or at least that\u2019s how it seems. I think most people are just happy the flight didn\u2019t cancel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In those early days, Choma\u2019s flights ranged between eight and 12 passengers, often essential medical workers or relatives flying to say goodbye to loved ones.<\/p>\n

\nBehind her mask she still wears red lipstick<\/a>, in part to remind her to crack a smile. \u201cNow that we\u2019re required to wear masks outside of our homes in SF, we\u2019re trying to figure out how to convey a kind smile through a mask,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cAny ideas?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Molly Choma<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In another post<\/a>, Choma explained what she does on the empty flights with no passengers. \u201cI spend some time sitting in the back and minding my own business,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI spend other time washing my hands and managing PPE. Sometimes I just sit, looking out a window and sifting through all the possible outcomes of this strange, strange time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a somber tone in the emptiness of Choma\u2019s photos, especially in vast airports. \u201cThis is my crew walking to our cars after a Seattle turn,\u201d she captioned an image showing herself and two colleagues walking through a high-ceilinged SFO terminal, the only humans in the frame. \u201cIt feels like something is wrong but you didn\u2019t get the memo, so you\u2019re searching for the cause of the emptiness. But there is nothing to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Molly Choma<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choma is aware of the risks she took by continuing to fly throughout the pandemic. \u201cI\u2019m younger. I\u2019m healthy,\u201d she told Insider. \u201cI don\u2019t have kids. I don\u2019t have a family or anyone that relies on me financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

She keeps working because she sees the necessity of the flights \u2014 passengers that need to get from one place to another \u2014 and so she masked up and boarded a plane nearly every day in March.\u00a0 \u201cFor the few flights that are left,\u201d she said, \u201cit\u2019s really important for people who can and are willing to keep showing up to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Choma has also captured the ominous orange skies caused by the West Coast wildfires.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSometimes I feel compelled to take pictures just to make sense of the world around me,\u201d she wrote in September about a series of images<\/a> of SFO taken between 2 and 4 p.m. \u201cToday was one of those days.\u201d\n <\/div>\n