‘Working class people always hustle’: LA's essential workers – in portraits

Photographs of firefighters, grocery workers and hospital staff were captured as they worked through the pandemic

_{Photographs by Sam Comen in Los Angeles}

Last March, California became the first US state to impose a stay-at-home order in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Millions of workers across the state saw their jobs abruptly turn high-risk, or essential to allow millions of others to shelter in place.

Photographer Sam Comen visited dozens of essential workers in Los Angeles, capturing their portraits and perspectives in one of America's major Covid-19 hotspots. Some of them were first responders, others, many of them Black and Latino, performed the labor that allowed so many more to work from home. Their roles during the crisis exposed stark issues of social injustice, with many performing high-risk work with little public support.