Lucky and Laurence’s Bedroom Editorial

editorial

24 Jan

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**Laurence:** The year is 2011. Lucky and I are constantly on Tumblr, where we met and bonded over Bright Eyes and Drew Barrymore’s best rom coms. Fast-forward to today: it’s day 36 of coronavirus quarantine, and we are in my living room where Lucky has been sleeping these past few weeks while we isolate together with my partner Nina, and my roommate Rochelle. We are family. The anxiety of the first weeks has largely washed over us — I barely read the news anymore — and we have entered a phase of acceptance that mainly looks like napping all day.

I’ve fallen deep into a rabbit hole of watching Youtube “day in the life” and “grocery haul” vlogs. There’s something oddly comforting about the normalcy of if. I’ve gotten into a routine that gets me through each day: an hour or two of lounging in bed, followed by a quick written recap of what I can remember of last night’s dreams in my journal, a long steam shower, and then I make breakfast for Lucky and I. I vaguely force myself to do a couple of hours or work, (editing photos, shooting, emails), and once I’ve had enough of my computer screen, we do a 5 minute ab workout challenge. More work hours roll by, then one of us cooks dinner for the whole family. We all sit down and eat. We then watch a movie in the living room, followed by a calming stretch routine. It’s a comforting kind of structure.

We shot these images on a sunny day after we had rewatched a few John Waters movies and wanted to play around with the 80s re-imagination of the 50s he was so good at. We covered the couch in white bed sheets, and put a blue nightgown on the living room wall in lieu of a proper backdrop. My partner Nina did Lucky’s makeup, and for a moment we escaped the boredom of it all.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Lucky: Larry has taken photos of me for almost ten years.

Even though my relationship with Larry spans much further than just the lens of their camera, photos have always been a big part of our relationship.

At times, when our schedules are too busy to just hang out, Larry ropes me back in by scheduling a time to take pictures.

Larry is probably the person who knows me best, inside and out.

It’s weird thinking about being perceived. About how we only see ourselves from one particular angle; through reflections and mirrors and front facing cameras.

Posing for someone who knows me so well allows me to know myself better.

When they first started taking pictures of me I think they were taking pictures of their own perception of me.

Slowly, they began capturing how I saw myself.

Now I think they, and only they, can photograph me as I am.

“Can I ask a weird question?” I ask five weeks into quarantine with manic eyes.

“Do I look different to you?”

I wanted them to take a photo to find out but they just said, “yes, a little.”