No one who lived through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic will ever forget how isolating it could be. Yet paradoxically, it also helped to forge new connections among faraway classmates, says Nancy Kwang Johnson ’85. “The silver lining of COVID is that it compelled us to interact in a virtual sense,” she says. Johnson, 1985 Class President, is the driving force behind Connecting Through the Camera: The Class of 1985 Portrait Project, a collaboration with Los Angeles–based photographer Daniel Reichert ’85 to photograph as many class members as possible before the class’s 40th Reunion this spring.

The project grew out of the class’s virtual 35th Reunion in 2020, which was the first time the Class of 1985 used the camera to connect. Johnson, who organized the reunion on Zoom and popped into the various “shuffle rooms” to ensure things were running smoothly, was touched and inspired by what she saw. “The class of ’85 kind of came together and connected and unmasked,” she says. “People were really opening up in the shuffle rooms and sharing intimate secrets with classmates they had not seen in over 35 years.”

At one point, she ended up in a shuffle room with Reichert, whom she hadn’t known in college, and an idea began to take shape. Johnson had recently been photographed as part of a Smithsonian project to photograph members of the Korean diaspora (she is of mixed heritage—Korean, African American, and Native American). She thought something similar could be done with her classmates. “It was that time period where all of our events were virtual,” she recalls, “and the thought of traveling to a classmate and reconnecting with them through the lens was sort of magical.”

Reichert was soon on board. “The project comes at a significant time for us,” he notes. “We’ve all recently turned 60. Not only do we share the emotional vocabulary of our Vassar years, we’re now sharing this milestone. To me, there’s something both poignant and comforting about this reconnection. We’re older, sure, but we’re still here, and that’s something to celebrate.”

Reichert has held portrait sessions at his studio in LA and traveled to several other locations around the country to reach more classmates. As of October, 85 people had been photographed—including Johnson’s Vassar tennis doubles partner, Lisa Kudrow. The class will hold its final session in New York City in early spring—a large turnout is expected.

Reichert, a former Mug bartender and a thespian during his Vassar days, sets the mood for each portrait session with a special soundtrack. “I put together an ’80s playlist for our Class of ’85 Portrait Project so my classmates would hopefully feel right at home, if not exactly on the Mug dance floor,” he explains.

Johnson says her classmates are opening up to Reichert’s lens, just as they had on Zoom. “What I see when I see the faces, I see people who have aged beautifully, who have let their guard down, and who feel comfortable being vulnerable,” she says.

Reichert is also moved. “I see in the faces of my classmates great beauty, wisdom, and wit: the lines of life experience,” he said. “Everyone has been so warm and generous in their appreciation for my portraits, but, truly, it’s been a gift and a revelation for me. I didn’t know most of these folks while at Vassar, and it’s been a great treat to spend time with such interesting, cool, and inspiring people.”—Kimberly Schaye