"Isolation Photography"
Pretty much everyone on the planet is now affected by Covid-19, with much of the world now in a lockdown state - confined to their homes and with restricted movement allowed outside - if, indeed, any at all.
This is an unprecedented situation and leads to stress, boredom, anxiety and a sense of loneliness for many - social interaction is restricted, we miss family and friends, we miss that sense of community we so often take for granted.
Now, I’m no virologist, no psychologist and, truth be told, I’m not even a photographer. I’m just a short fat guy with a camera collection who enjoys taking photos and is fortunate to have - in normal times - opportunities to travel.
But - I also have a phone. And there are many things we can do with phones these days - video calls with those we miss and care about, catching up with news and events, study, playing games and - taking photos!
In some small way, it can help us to connect with others if we share images of our daily lives. Images from around the home, food we cook, selfies and so on. You can also try to use your imagination around how to be creative with your smart phone and the myriad of phone apps that are available.
Here, I just want to share some recent iPhone images I myself have taken. These have been shared with family and friends - as mentioned, it keeps up a level of connection and interaction, that is important in these challenging times. Also, you can throw in a wee bit of humour…
Now, I’m far from an expert in all this, so if phone photography does generally interest you, the following may be of interest…
The Enthusiast's Guide to iPhone Photography: 63 Photographic Principles You Need to Know
The Smartphone Photography Guide: Shoot*Edit*Experiment*Share
Anyway, onto my recent efforts in “isolation photography”…
A wee selfie to start - reaching into the booze supply to try and get through the day! Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but needs must ;-)
For this one, the phone was set up at the back of the wine fridge on a 10 second timer - straight from the iPhone, no editing at all..
I do enjoy cooking, and this extra time at home has allowed me to do some more of it - this was the early stages of a chilli dish, using slices of beef instead of minced beef.
I could be massively wrong here, but I understand that’s the more traditional way? Shortly after this pic was taken, I added beef stock, tomatoes and let it simmer for a while. Beef was tender, lots of flavour - and went down very well with the wine from the previous pic. (Wasn’t really for breakfast, just in case anyone was in doubt..!)
iPhone, all these images are, slight editing on the inbuilt iPhone software
Really quite pleased with this little dish. I had potatoes and leeks lying around so I made…well…a potato and leek dish. Chopped and par-boiled the spuds, drained them, added them to a frying pan with some olive oil and butter.
Then, as they took some colour, added sliced leeks and seasoned them - served shortly thereafter and scoffed them up. This will now be a regular side dish in the Fatman household.
It’s a fried egg. Or, to be accurate, a frying egg. Used the Hipstamatic app for this snap - not a bad app for food photos. Not much else to say, really, it’s an egg…
An artist’s impression of me if I keep cooking, eating and drinking. Used the Photofox app, you can blend images. Could have taken more time on this, it’s a bit sloppy, but you get the idea…
Used the Hipstamatic app again. Kombucha is a fermented, slightly fizzy drink that supposedly has health benefits and is better for you than the well known market leading sodas. Not that it matters here, really. Tastes good, ginger and lemon - top notch flavour combo!
The wee fella is a wooden netsuke. Netsuke are generally made of ivory and are antiques - but ivory obviously massively out of favour these days. So this is a wooden one. Netsuke are miniature sculptures dating from 17th-century Japan onwards and served a practical purpose - essentially fasteners on traditional Japanese clothing. Edited on Snapseed.
Some dried flowers that I found in the apartment. No idea where they came from or how they got here - and they won’t be here for long. But they made a good subject for trying to work on “depth of field” with an iPhone. Also edited in Snapseed.
Well, those are my examples of iPhone shots snapped in the apartment during this lockdown! On that note, I shall wind this blog up and wish you all well - Stay Strong, Stay Safe, Be Kind.