Houston-area neighborhood brings smiles with hilarious 'surviving pandemic' photo shoot 'We're too old for this!' Neighbors keep keen sense of humor in face of pandemic

Houston-based photographer Yuli Vargas came up with the idea of a creative neighborhood photo shoot. She captured how her neighbors were surviving "Pandemic 2020" and staying safe. Houston-based photographer Yuli Vargas came up with the idea of a creative neighborhood photo shoot. She captured how her neighbors were surviving "Pandemic 2020" and staying safe. Photo: Yuli Vargas Photo: Yuli Vargas Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Houston-area neighborhood brings smiles with hilarious 'surviving pandemic' photo shoot 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

Sometimes you can't control the curveballs life throws at you. But you can strive to bring a little light and laughter in face of the most difficult times.

When Houston-based photographer Yuli Vargas first thought about how she could make a positive difference in this pandemic, she was uncertain.

"I was really bummed. Many of my photo shoots were cancelled," Vargas said.

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Then, a friend of hers encouraged her to think of something she could do for her Rancho Verde community on the east side of Houston, near Channelview.

"Maybe this will be something for people to look at that will be positive, instead of all the negative stuff that we're seeing," Vargas said.

That's when she came up with the idea to do a creative neighborhood photo shoot, showing how all of her neighbors were surviving "Pandemic 2020." Most importantly, the photo shoot was also a fun tool to encourage people to "stay home, stay safe."

"I told them, 'You don't have to pay anything. Just have fun for free,'" Vargas said.

At first, Vargas' photo shoot only drew three neighbors. Then, it blossomed to to 13 sessions a day.

"They loved the photo shoot!" Vargas said. "One neighbor said, 'I'm so glad you did this, because this uplifted my spirits.'"

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Vargas added that she also had families who wanted to bring smiles and signs of encouragement to first responders who were working on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

"One of my favorites is of the elderly couple, who held up this sign, 'We're too old for this!'" Vargas said. "When I saw their sign, I just started laughing."

Vargas said that at first when news of the pandemic spread, she didn't want to even venture out of her home. But her photoshoot idea inspired her and ended up bringing smiles and unity to the entire neighborhood.

"It was cool to see neighbors helping each other out during this situation," Vargas said.

alison.medley@chron.com