Stephen Garza: Arriving 2020

Stephen Garza: Arriving 2020 by Aline SmithsonApril 19, 2020

©Stephen Garza

Stephen Manuel Garza (@stephen_garza) is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte currently pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. He shares an insider’s view of the airport where he handles baggage. The spaces, normally filled with hundreds of passengers, is now almost completely void of life. Using a cell phone as to not call attention to himself, he captures terminals in their empty states with lone travelers waiting for the next flight.

Stephen most enjoys large format landscape and travel photography and has traveled to multiple countries in South America, Europe and Australia in order to pursue his passion.

©Stephen Garza

Arriving 2020

I am employed at the local airport in my city as a baggage handler. This allows me the privilege of seeing how things unfold during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Throughout these trying times, I capture the eerie mood of a nearly empty airport terminal and the life within. Not long ago, the airport was thriving and filled with crowded walkways and long security lines. Of late, pilots wait, in solitude, for their next flight, passengers’ distance themselves from one another, and various airport employees avoid the crowded break rooms lounging in the spacious terminal. I chose to capture the essence of the airport with my cell phone, which I was able to use without drawing much attention to myself. This allowed me to remain unnoticed and the people in my photographs to continue with their actions and appearance.