When she missed her friends during the first lockdown of 2020, photographer Sarah Weal decided to take pictures of them through their windows, allowing her to connect with them at a time of isolation.

What she hadn’t anticipated was how the photographs would be impacted by the glass in the windows. Not only did it serve as a barrier, offering protection from disease while impeding conversation, but in the bright sunshine of those early months of the pandemic, vivid reflections were created on the panes.

Sarah describes the experience of photographing her friends and their families as ‘bitter sweet’. “At times the glass made me feel more alone than ever: the feeling of solitude heightened when there was a strong reflection and I had to see past it to find the subject. My sitters couldn’t possibly anticipate what I was seeing. The act of photographing them with trees reflected in their stomachs, clouds in their heads or blossom on their faces, all unlicensed, became entrancing... empowering even.”

A commercial photographer specialising in shooting portraits of makers, Sarah’s work dried up instantly when Covid first hit. Rather than sit down and think about how she could make sense of it, the project evolved organically, as a series of posts on Instagram. She would arrange the time of her visit with whoever she was closest to in the household, usually the woman, then leave it to serendipity as to who came to the window. The result is a range of different family combinations, from people on their own, with their partner, or with one or more children.

“Although I was photographing families, it was not a family portrait session. It was very much how I was feeling in response to them,” says Weal. “What I noticed is people were really excited about being photographed. Firstly, it was interaction and some people had not seen anyone for weeks. Secondly, just to be seen, for someone to want to photograph you at a time when you feel you’re not allowed out into the world to make your mark.”

One of the photographs, ‘Ruth, David and Scarlett in Lockdown’, was chosen to feature in the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Hold Still’ exhibition, a community project spearheaded by the Duchess of Cambridge to create a collective portrait of the UK during lockdown. On the back of that, a PhD student contacted Sarah asking her if he could feature the photograph in an article he was writing about art and nostalgia. “I do think a lot of people I know will have some nostalgia for that time,” says Sarah.

‘Furloughed Friendship’ is sponsored by Elena Francia Gabriele from EFG ART Ltd (@efgart) as part of a project called @fromstudiolockdown – an initiative with Hive Studios to support artists during the pandemic.