This article was a student submission from the Photojournalism I class
“In Bed With You” is a series dedicated to people and their beds. Beds are intimate spaces, in all sense of the word: we laugh in them, we cry in them, we sleep in them. Beds offer refuge, listening to our deepest desires, our secrets and sheltering us from our worst fears. A bed is a place of solitude and comfort. It is a place to feel vulnerable and let your guard down. The people you choose to allow into your bed are select and those choices say a great deal about trust. By photographing people in their beds I hope to convey a different sense of intimacy that is sometimes overlooked.
My friends, family and acquaintances allowed me to enter their most private spaces to document their most intimate moments. They allowed me to see parts of themselves that might otherwise be kept from the world. I saw a softness in my father’s face complemented by the gentle warmth of my stepmom curled next to him. In the morning, as the light fills her room my friend greets the day with a smile. I framed the portrait to focus on emotion but left enough space around each face to the bed that surrounded them. Through this project, I saw sides of my subjects I never and may not see again.
Rose Fox, 18, my younger sister, has always been so patient with me and my photographs. I have seen her in her most emotional states, and there are no guards up around me – even when I have my camera in her face. “To me, my bed is a vulnerable place. You know, the place where things are always okay, even when they sometimes aren’t.” Taken Nov. 23, 2017. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Emma Russell, 21, in her bed on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. Russell has been my best friend for thirteen years and my roommate for three. Collectively over those years, we have spent countless time in each other’s beds. To photograph her for this project was very different and introduced a new perspective of her. A side that in thirteen years, I never have seen. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Jonti Fox, 57, (my father) and wife Janet Park, 55, (my stepmother) wake up slowly in bed Dec. 19, 2017, in their Durango, CO home. Regardless of the place, people are at in their lives, a bed will always be a sacred space for them and the people they share it with. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Brooke Stormo, 21, stretching in her bed Dec. 5, 2017. “I get headaches a lot, and to me, my bed is this safe space where I don’t have to pretend things are okay. It helps. I’m not cute when I sleep, though.” Brooke is a good friend. I asked her to think about the time her bed means the most to her. She said it is when she wakes up after a headache. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Tara Smith, 21, photographed on Dec. 6, 2017. Smith is an old friend. Having worked for Whilemina Models, the majority of the shoots we have done have been very stylized and posed. To be able to shoot so casually and naturally was a really different experience. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Maria O’Brien, 54, at home in Durango, CO on Dec. 19, 2017. For years and years, my mom took care of me and kept me safe, and made room for me in her bed when the night was a little too dark. The strongest woman I know looks so small and beautiful. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Emma Hagen, 21, and her boyfriend Michael Vienneau, 21, nap after class on Dec. 7, 2017, in Boulder, CO. Hagen and I grew up together and grew apart as we got older and college began. For her to let me into her bed, a very exclusive part of her life, after so many years of distance was very special. Having never met her boyfriend, I was surprised he wanted to participate as well. “I like to be the little spoon but so does he, so I accommodate.” (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Lily Burdick, 20, and boyfriend Tyson Wolff, 24, the morning of Dec.10, 2017. Burdick and Wolff met on Tinder; the epitome of the modern love story. Recently, Wolff moved to Boulder, CO and in January, the two are moving to an apartment together. (Robin Fox/CU Independent)
Robin Fox is a CU photojournalism student, contact her at Robin.Fox@colorado.edu
