Round Trips to Florida

Story and photos by Dylan Baker

Before the Covid-19 situation became as serious as it is now, I spent part of my spring break at the Northern Short Course, a professional photojournalism conference in suburban D.C. It was an amazing experience listening to presentations by some of the best professionals in the business. Towards the end of the conference the news had begun to drastically change.

The news of the COVID-19 virus came up very quickly for me. I remember hearing about it and then reading articles about it spreading throughout China across Asia in January and February. I can be a very anxious person, so when the virus was starting to show up in the news headlines, I became more and more nervous. I really enjoy reading the news and understanding what is going on around me and in the world at large but I knew that I would need to pull back from my news consumption because I could tell I was getting too anxious too quickly.

Life seemed to be very normal leading up to Spring Break. I attended the Northern Short Course, a professional photojournalism conference in Fairfax Virginia, held each spring. The conference brings together visual storytellers and photojournalists from all over the country for lectures and workshops throughout a long weekend. The conference was extremely well done, and I had no idea how life-changing it was going to be. It was very refreshing to be able to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with photojournalists from all over the country and discussing my own work! However, during the Conference in Fairfax, it seemed everyone was just a little on edge, people slowly stopped shaking hands and everyone was using hand sanitizer all the time it felt like. It was also my 21^st birthday on Thursday, March 5th, the first day of the conference. Even though I was going to Northern Short Course with friends and peers from RIT it still was not what I had imagined my 21^st to be. With that said, I was glad to be spending my birthday with passionate and inspiring people around me.

Catherine Rafferty, a senior at RIT, and Dillon Berrus, a Sophomore at RIT, stand in the mirror for a portrait before the awards ceremony at Northern Short Course.

As I had planned after the conference, I flew back to my home in Winter Park Florida, to spend the rest of spring break with family and friends. The Dulles airport was almost completely empty that Sunday night. It was like a ghost town. I got to my gate extra early and there were plenty of people on my flight, which in fact was almost full. More than ever, in that moment, I could tell everyone was very cautious about what they were touching and about how close they were to people around them.

An almost completely empty escalator at Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C.

I got into Orlando late at night and was thankful to be in a warm place again for the first time in three months. My 2020 spring semester at RIT was the first time I lived away from home for an extended period. While comforting, it also felt strange to be home and surrounded by my family and friends. I had dinner with family and went out for drinks with friends, keeping our distance and washing our hands a little more than usual. Other than that, within a few days life started to feel normal again. The week went by almost too quickly, but I was also ready to go back to Rochester and finish up my studies for this semester.

My friend Emily Springer, 21, spends time kayaking just days before “Shelter At Home” went into effect in Orange County, Florida.

Cameron Maun, a Junior at Florida State University, spends time with Kimberli Pepper, a Senior at Rollins College, in Orange County, Florida.

Kyle O’Neill, a 21 year old Sophomore at Valencia Community College converses with Connor Henson, a 20 year old sophomore at Valencia Community College and Colin McCracken, a 21 year old attending the University of Central Florida, at Fiddler’s Green pub in Winter Park, Florida.

Anna Myers, a Junior at Trevecca Nazarene University poses for a portrait at Barnie’s Coffee in Winter Park, Florida.

Then came the first email from RIT, extending spring break. So, I extended my flight by 4 days, leaving on Wednesday rather than Saturday. The first email came on Thursday, then on Sunday, they sent another email notifying students that RIT would be going to alternative learning and that all students in student housing would have to move out by April 5^th. When I first read this email, I got very anxious and felt sick to my stomach, this is what happens when I get anxious.

After the email notifying students to be out of housing by April 5^th, my father and I decided to cancel my Wednesday flight, due to the potential risk that airplanes have for concentrating the virus in small spaces. We agreed that I would rent a car and drive to Rochester, get my stuff out of my room, and drive my own car back. I would also need to find at least one other person to come with me on this long drive north. Lucky, I had two friends who were also doing alterative learning and on spring break and they agreed to come with me to help on the long drive up and back, and to help me pack up my gear.

A blue glove lays in the middle of an empty residential street in Winter Park, Florida during the COVID-19 Pandemic March 2020.

So, we set out very early Tuesday morning and arrived in Rochester around 7:00 pm on Wednesday, after spending the night with a family friend just outside of Washington D.C. the previous night. We all felt very ambitious about getting packed up and possibly leaving the next day, so we packed up everything that needed to come home and the next afternoon we got back onto the road. The following day we set out for the long haul back to Orlando. It turned out to be about a 14-hour day with stops for gas and food, and unexpected recharge of the air conditioning of my car.

After a very long and spontaneous road trip to New York and then back to Florida, the pace of life felt very rushed. I felt rushed. I was in and out of RIT in less than 24 hours. This was my first semester away from home at a major university and this was the last thing I expected. Hopefully I will be back on campus in August, but it still feels like I didn’t have time to say goodbye to a place where I lived and studied for months. I didn’t even have time to feel anything, about being there, about being away from home, about leaving there. It felt like my soul hadn’t caught up with my body.

A self portrait in my room, back home in Winter Park, Florida. This is the first day of classes, switching to “alternative” learning methods during the COVID19 Pandemic.

Although on the one hand being back home and close to family and friends feels right, it also doesn’t feel right. There is like unfinished business in Rochester. It’s a very strange feeling and I’m sure I am not the only one. I also think about the seniors at RIT, not having a graduation, and facility not being able to say a real goodbye to the RIT community. Hopefully RIT will provide some alternative sometime in the future.

With all that said, it is so important that we as a whole community and country, come together to defeat this virus.