A blend of photography and exploration
I’ve been collecting photos of the social distancing floor dots since the first lockdown lifted. Finally collated into one image just in time for another shift to the rules before Christmas. All taken with my phone’s camera. Nothing sums up the current situation than the waiting and distance between people.
The final creative project for my still life unit in college. A recreation of the government’s Covid-19 advice graphic using my favourite tiny railway model people.
Hands – Hand sanitiser swimming pool complete with Baywatch lifeguard.
Face – A discarded face mask ski slope. Has various levels of difficulty.
Space – Get your health and safety signage painted by our elite crew of painters. Don’t worry they do clean up after themselves.
All done as set ups on my desk top. It’s one of the easiest things to do. The fight I had with photoshop at 1am to put the work together however…..
So I went out to the recently reopened Riverside museum and it was abit of an exerience compaired to the last time I was there in late November 2019 (all of 8 months ago). Last time it was teeming with people as you can see in the photos I took for my Higher Project. Of course, I was also there for fun when I wrote this post all about it in March 2019.
If you had told me back in March, or even November, that it would have about a third of the usual number inside, no cafe, no museum shop, and that you would need to book in advance…. well I would probably have laughed.
It really is a whole different world to the one that shut up shop in March this year.
Meanwhile, out on the streets….. I had a meet up with some of the guys from my Higher class and we had a bit of a walk about. It’s always good to get out and see other humans these days
So unless you are very lucky, live in a limited number of places on Earth or are an alien you’ll have heard of COVID-19. Also known as the coronavirus it’s been causing utter havoc for everyone. It’s really no surprise as a photographer who loves museums and people filled locations that the amount of shots I have taken has dramatically reduced. The SQA higher I was studying for has also fallen on stony ground.
On the 20th March I effectively stopped going out and entered lockdown like most of the country. I’m not a key worker as I work as an office temp and it’s not really a job you can do from home so I’ve been twiddling my thumbs, or a better way of putting it, furloughed. The college I was going to closed. The Brownies and Guides I work with were told we couldn’t meet in person anymore. The course I was studying for had it’s exam cancelled and the project folio I was building was not to be submitted and is unfinished.
Roads went quiet, schools were closed, businesses shut and the world went into an eerie pause. In the early part of the lockdown I only really ventured out into Glasgow once, as I had to go to the bank. I did some shots in the main street near my home as people adjusted to this ‘new normal’ where we couldn’t go closer than 2m to people we hugged 2 weeks ago and had to line up outside the supermarket and pharmacy.
But then I put the camera down.
Now lockdown is unravelling. 10/11 weeks seems to be the breaking point for many and the less said about what those in charge did or didn’t do the better. Whether it is too soon remains to be seen. I imagine it might be.
Just 2 weeks before lockdown started I went to my interview for HNC Photography. The images I took to make up my portfolio have their own page. I was offered and accepted a place on the course. So I need to get back to work. It’s time to pick up the camera again.
Selkie’s Photography 