A selection of images from “Close to Home,” the recent collaborative project between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based photographers Billy Cress (previously featured here) and Saleem Ahmed (previously featured here). Taken while on neighborhood walks during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, Cress and Ahmed’s photographs capture the uncanny quiet of a city accustomed to commotion:

“Philadelphia has a constant hum of energy. A cacophony of noises — rumbling trains, vehicle exhaust, the relentless banging of hammer meeting nail. For anyone who has lived here a while it’s barely noticeable. White noise.

When the city collectively came to a halt in March 2020, Philadelphia simply felt strange. The background hum we all didn’t even know was there had become loud silence. The world had lost its color. When we wandered we stayed close to home.

These photographs tell a story of a dormant city, and Philadelphian life that quietly persists. From dark days stuck in a rowhome, to a hopeful outlook with sidewalk chalk rainbows.”

See more from “Close to Home” below!