Jude is a portrait photographer working from her studio in Melbourne’s west. She has over 15 years’ experience telling stories through photography, translating those experiences into gallery-style artwork, and has established her book imprint and art brand, Van Jude. She originates from Utrecht in the Netherlands, where she also had a thriving photography studio. See themelbourneportraitstudio.com

“This time of Melbourne’s lockdown needed to be captured.”

I will always remember the date this pandemic started to get serious because it was the day before my birthday on 25 March. All of a sudden, people were stocking up on food like there was no tomorrow, and they went mad for toilet rolls. No-one has ever understood why people hoarded toilet paper, but everyone was stressing out.

From the first day of restrictions, I was forced to close my portrait studio. I didn’t want to become stressed and depressed, so I decided that I wanted to help uplift people and, in the process, uplift myself as well. I realised immediately that something very unusual was happening, and it needed to be captured.

When a mum from my kids’ school posted on social media to say she’d gone to the library and borrowed 72 books before it shut, I rang her and asked if I could photograph her boys with their books. They are now The Bookworms, on page 60-61.