Ghost town - my lockdown experience

The coronavirus has changed all of our lives. From a personal point of view, work that had been booked in for months started to disappear and as a photographer based in York that photographs events, people, headshots and images for tourism, I seemed to be getting daily emails cancelling or postponing jobs.

I missed the chance to shoot headshots, events and marketing images for all sorts of clients, not forgetting the chance to shoot Easter services at York Minster

As for my home city of York - it became a ghost town. It was eerie to walk the streets with no-one around. You'd think it was a photographer's dream, but seeing streets that are usually full of locals and tourists empty, and local businesses closed up, wasn't a pleasant experience.

On the positive side, the crisis gave me time to sort out lots of outstanding admin tasks, and I had planning meetings with clients over Zoom and FaceTime as well as taking part in online networking events.

I also picked up a few new skills - here's a short video that shows how York looked - beautiful, but empty...

I also used the time to train myself up on new techniques, experiment with more creative options, and acquire new equipment. As a business, I'm well placed to come out of the crisis in a positive way and I can't wait to be back.

(like everyone else, I now also bake a mean banana loaf, and as another benefit, all the DIY tasks have been done....well, mostly).

Although my camera is in daily use, it's working with people that I have missed, so I'm looking forward to getting back up to full steam, and it's reassuring that bookings are coming in.

See you on the other side.

Take care

Duncan