“Well, I had a pretty busy social life...” she said laughing “..so not seeing friends and my family back in Italy, that was hard. During the day, it was just me, the cat and my dog, Stormy. I found myself having longer and longer conversations with Stormy. It’s funny thinking about it now, but you can definitely see the serious side of mental health for some people.”

“But although it’s been a challenge the biggest gift for me was having so much more time for myself. It’s been a great period for self-reflection and self-growth, being able to do the things that I enjoy and make me happy, and my biggest achievement has been that I qualified as a yoga instructor! Two hundred hours of yoga ,face to face and online, which is something I don’t think would have been possible in my life until now.”

Yoga has been a big part of Chiara life for many years, but she wasn’t sure she’d really like teaching. 

“I didn’t know if I would truly like teaching until I did the course and took that leap, but since qualifying in November I am absolutely loving it!”

So with restrictions starting to lift, what will Chiara do with that freedom again!?

“I’ll go out and catch up all my friends and give them all the biggest hugs, and then drive to Italy to see my family. If I can, I’ll make it a two month trip, and drive through the south of Spain  - Malaga, Granada, Seville - and then back to Italy, catching up on one lost year with my family.”

Read more about the project, portraits and words at London-Rebooted - Portraits of London or follow on instagram  @nathanclarkephotography where the new portraits are posted first.

London Rebooted - Portrait Photography Project.

Images Copyright of London Photographer Nathan Clarke | For any image use or enquiries contact me at nathan@nathanclarkephotography.co.uk