The Covid 19 pandemic means we should:
Stay Home – Protect The NHS – Save Lives
I’m fine with this. I don’t want to become ill and I don’t want my family to be ill. Other generations have put up with much worse. But for someone for whom photography means getting my bag and going out, it comes as a shock.
But this is an opportunity. Not being able to to pick up my bag and go out, has made me realise that the going out is part of the habit of my photography. I use the word habit deliberately. It is mechanical behaviour borne out of repetition. Like driving the same route to work each day or always leaving your keys in the same place. I don’t want to have a photography habit any longer. I want my photography to be a place to embrace new ideas and new ways of doing things. It needs to regain the freshness of play, rather than the routine of work.
Just as my generation staying at home have it better then my grand parents generation sheltering from The Blitz, I am fortunate to have a huge range of assets that my predecessors could only dream of.
Photoshop
Image libraries
Established practices of appropriation
Studio lighting
All these resources mean that I can create work at home and publish it.
The pictures at the top of the page and below are a very basic attempt at illustrating how humans need to co-exist with other species.
These are pictures that I found in seconds using Google Images. The Photoshop work is not difficult either. Now I need to develop these skills into the ability to tell stories and convey a message.