Thomas Mack is a photographer in Lakeland.

So it certainly wasn’t unusual he had cameras on him in his car throughout the pandemic.

Plus the Polk Museum of Art put out a call for a new virtual show—to document life through art in this historic time.

It would be called “Hindsight 2020: Art of our Time.”

It was a curbside pickup at a favorite, a familiar spot near his Lakeland area home.

And a familiar face.

It might have been covered, but Thomas Mack knew the funny server Tammy Barns dropping off their meal curbside.

And unsurprisingly, she wore a joke on her mask that said “I’m only wearing this so I don’t get fired.”

After their transaction, Mack asked for a picture, and born was “Masked Opinions.”

Mack said he knew as soon as he checked the camera —he know he’d captured the *real" Tammy.

“It's very cool because for me, it expresses who she is,” Mack said. “I mean, with her eyes, and the way she looks at you with the glasses, and slightly slow down, it's definitely her.”

Mack aptly named the black and white work “Masked Opinions.”

And after a life in a virtual realm, a lucky few works from the exhibit made it into the brick and mortar museum in “Hindsight 2020: A Year Later,” open through December 26^th, 2021.

Dr. H. Alex Rich, Executive Director & Chief Curator, Polk Museum of Art says they are not only an institution of art, they are a place for the community to share the human experience.

“We realized that we had this opportunity to do something really special,” said Rich, “both in support of artists in Central Florida area, but also to be able to really take our place in this moment in time to show what was going on in people's lives through art.”

Barns’ take on making the cut - twice.

“Yeah, she's pretty cool about it.,” said Mack. “I told her she was the Mona Lisa of Polk County. She kind of cracked up.”