Inspired by Jay Stone’s photos of Plymouth and as the shoots I have done at home, have not been successful, I decided to go out and document the impact Coronavirus has had on the town I’m living in. These pictures include the last day I was at university before I moved home, the rest are of a long walk I went on around my town.
These first photos are from university. It was meant to been Varsity week but it was cancelled and now the uni was pretty much empty. I tried to capture the eeriness of the library corridors and empty SU. But these photos don’t fit with the rest and as I am not in Plymouth anymore, it would be hard to carry on.
These photos below are from around the town I live in. It was a few days after I got home and already it was so different to how it was before. I documented places that were normally busy and roads that were usually full. It was a sunny day so I used an aperture of around f.9 and fast shutter speed to get more of the image in focus. What could be improved is that the blue sky does not reflect the mood I wanted to portray in these images. I could look at reshooting on a cloudier day to capture a more moody photo. The composition was quite simple, I stood straight on to the subject. If I was to carry on documenting the affects of Coronavirus on the town, I will look into other angles to make it more interesting. But from feedback, I don’t think this idea is that effective at showing what I wanted to. From someone who doesn’t know the area, it could just be that the places that were closed on a certain day and the roads were normally like that. I understand this comment, to improve this I could look at things that people will recognise wherever they live. Such as long queues for shops and how different super markets are now.
I have not completely ruled out this idea, but it would need a lot of improvement. After that walk, a new idea came to mind. I photographed my family through the window while they ate tea. There was a bit of reflection which added a new layer to the photograph. The idea of shooting through a window fits with the situation I am trying to document. Isolation and separated from family is represented by the window. Although these images are technically not good (too dark and unsuccessful composition), I am going to experiment more with this idea.
Lucy Davis 