So That Was 2020…
A sign of things to come - Fujifilm X100F
I took this photo during a workshop with Kevin Mullins on the 31st January this year. COVID-19 hadn’t really made it anywhere close to the UK, and this poster from the previous day’s news seemed of little importance. I only took it because I was trying to “warm up my creative eye”. As it turned out, it was probably the most relevant photograph I took all year in terms of documenting what was going on.
In March I was up in London for the day, and things were starting to get very real. I shot these protesters outside 10 Downing Street demanding a lockdown. Social distancing hadn’t really sunk in at this point.
Protesters demanding a lockdown outside 10 Downing Street - Fujifilm X100F
Just a few days later, on 23rd March 2020, the UK was put into a nationwide lockdown. As I was classified as clicnally vulnerable, that meant that The Delightful Mr F and I were confined to the house. We did not leave it, in any meaningful way, until early December. We had a couple of really early jaunts out locally, when everyone else was still asleep to avoid contact with others, but no serious trips out to shoot.
My “permitted” daily walk has been the only fresh air I have had, and I normally take my camera with me. I now know the streets around my house very well indeed. To start with I was somewhat frustrated. What is there to shoot in a small, suburban market town, compared to the wonders of London? Of course, you have to look in order to see. The more I looked, the more I saw. The lockdown started a couple of projects for me. The first is Shadow Flowers which developed from a three or four month obsession I had with single flowers. The other isn’t quite ready to share yet, but as it looks as thought we will be at home until at least Easter, I am hopeful that I will have a set of shots sometime in the middle of 2021.
Panic buying - iPhone 8
Hand sanitiser everywhere you go - Fujifilm X100V
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. Neither the Delightful Mr F nor I got COVID, we both worked throughout the crisis from home, and none of our loved ones were impacted. All in all, there is nothing to complain about. The world is still out there for us to photograph once we have been vaccinated. We have a long list of places we want to visit to make up for lost time. I’ll leave you with this shot of a gull on Bournemouth beach at some ungodly hour of the morning. No crowds though!
Stay safe and well, and let’s not ever mention 2020 again…
