erin michelle burk

Bok Molter, in the black shirt, Adrian Spencer, in the white shirt, and Liam Waskiewicz use a piece of fishing line with a hook that they found on the side of the road to fish off of the docks of Fishtown in Leland, Michigan on June 26, 2020. Spencer said that in the past, they could sit out on the docks and hang their legs off the side without touching the water. This is one of their favorite places to play after school. Multiple buildings in Fishtown have had to be lifted to avoid being submerged in the lake waters.

Marina Sorace-Ferreyro and Ken Ferreyro share a kiss as they prepare to leave the DMV. When Ken was arrested following complications from his post-traumatic stress disorder in 2016, their family had to split up. Their sons went to their mother's house, and Marina and Ken's daughter went to stay with Marina's parents in Argentina as Marina couldn't support the two of them on her own. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ken's halfway house put stricter visiting rules into place in order to decrease exposure for their residents. Marina now sees him very rarely, and often only when he needs a ride for appointments.

My sister, Emily, poses for a portrait in a window by our front door. As she was a senior in high school during March of 2020, the quarantine prevented her from attending many important events. Our family hung up a metal Corona Beer sign from my father's days in the Air Force dorms as a way to find the humor in the little things while still taking ever necessary precaution to remain safe in the current times.

Mike and Julie embrace for a portrait in Monrovia, California in May 2021. When Mike was deployed abroad to Okinawa, Japan through the U.S. Air Force, the couple worked hard to overcome the distance. They were unable to go together as Julie was undocumented with no legal avenue available towards U.S. citizenship. However, their marriage in late 2017 changed this. In May of 2021, Julie was able to join Mike on his way to Okinawa. They are together during his deployment for the first time.

My cousin, Rachel Burk, 11, poses for a portrait in the flooded yard of our grandparents' lake house by Little Traverse Lake in Maple City, Michigan on June 26, 2020. At 581.96ft, Lake Michigan has hit a point 3ft higher than the previously recorded May 1986 record. This means that all across the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, established in 1970, the land is being flooded or eroded away in certain areas. This is because as the atmosphere continues warming from climate change, precipitation is increased and areas like the Sleeping Bear Dunes find themselves ill-prepared to handle the influx of water. At only around 100ft away from the border of the lakeshore, my grandparent's property is as subject to the rising water levels of Lake Michigan as the park as a whole is, leaving the yard flooded until the local watershed councils can vote on how to handle the situation.

From left to right: Edwin Grenland cradles his new puppy, Dior, while Manny Perez and famous TikToker Leo Gonzalez discuss the location of a stall in front of Vanessa Mendoza, who is filming them on her phone on May 28, 2021. Every night in Lincoln Heights, the Avenue 26 street market sets up shop and provides LA with top-notch street food, a commodity that has been sorely missed since the beginning of the pandemic. Its sudden and explosive growth in popularity can be attributed to TikTokers like Gonzalez making short videos about it and giving it more exposure.

Martha Bank, center, Lance, second from left, and a woman who did not wish to be named protest Israel's militant action against Palestine while inside a coverted school bus covered in pro-Palestine messages parked outside the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles on May 18, 2021.

Laiklan Newton, center, reaches out to high five dirt bikers who are finishing their races at the Mason Motocross in Point Pleasant, WV, on August 28, 2021.

Grace Hanlon looks at the Black Lives Matter memorial set up at the First Parish Meeting House in Groton, MA, on June 7, 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.