COVID-19 Lockdown - Week One

Day One

On Tuesday 24th I was informed by my work that from this point on, all staff have been asked to work from home. I had taken my camera to work with me that day, so I decided to start documenting my experience of this pandemic. Why? Three reasons. Firstly, I think it will be great to be able to show my kids in the years to come. They're young and naive to the severity of it all currently. I feel strongly that we have a responsibility to tell our own stories, this is especially true now, before this time is abridged to a paragraph or two, in our grandchildren's history books. Secondly, I like to photograph the 'everyday' anyway. We live in a culture that has grown used to shocking photography and sensitive materials, often sighted in our day to day media consumption. Aside from the thousands of snaps we all take and share online, there doesn't seem to be many people photographing everyday sights and sounds in a creative and meaningfull way. I often think of a quote by Elliot Erwitt...

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

...and finally, it will give me something creative to do. Something to keep my photography flowing and focused.

On the way home form work, I stopped at the post office to send a couple of parcels. People were queuing two metres apart and the line was all the way through the shop.

On my way out, I noticed a group of people in the school car park opposite, giving out bags to people. I walked over to investigate and found that they were handing out essential items in bags such as bread, tinned food, soap, cereal, toilet roll and pasta. I asked if I could take a couple of portraits and they told me that it was ok.

I then visited Tesco to pick up some supplies. Whilst I was in there, it was still early days to see people wandering around with gloves and masks on, so I took a couple of photographs. After paying for my items, the security guard swiftly commandeered myself and asked why I as taking photographs. I reassured him that I didn't work for any media outlets and that as a photographer, I was simply documenting important events, he seemed approving of this and let me past.

And so, I headed home. As I was driving home, I remember wondering how the kids would cope through all this. Would they understand? How will we keep them entertained? How will their own e-learning work? I was focusing on the uncertain elements about to unfold. I then remember thinking about the positives. More time with my family. At least I will be close to the people I love. At least I will have more time to FaceTime my parents. At least we are all in this together. It's this mixture of comfort and uncertainty that I want to document.