My Covid-19 Self-Isolation Photography Project

Wow, how the world has changed in these past few weeks! Where I live in Vancouver, we have been strongly encouraged to social distance ourselves and stay at home. We are not in full lockdown yet, as many locations are. However, if social distancing does not work, I’m sure we will be facing much stricter controls soon. So with Covid-19 sweeping across the globe, how do you keep your sanity in these unprecedented times? To get through all this craziness, I’ve started a self-isolation photography project.

Find Something You Love

So how do you keep your spirits high in a time like this? For me, photography has always been my chosen form of therapy. And as many of you know, I love to shoot street photography. However, that genre is not easy to do from home! So instead of just sitting around, I have given myself a photography assignment. I am trying to create at least one image around my house or garden every day. My self-isolation photography project has no restrictions on subject or genre. I will be experimenting with macro, photographing my crazy Bengal cats, making abstracts using light and shadow, trying some still life, and maybe even creating the odd selfie!

Set Some Goals

So what are you going to do to pass the time? Even if you can continue your work from home, it is now more crucial than ever to take some time for yourself every day. If you are a photographer, take this opportunity to learn something new. You could practice working with flash, or creating still life images. And what better time could there be to take a photography course online. Find out more about your favourite post-processing program, or how to shoot video. There are so many great online resources for photographers these days. Even if you don’t have a set photography project in mind, try to pick up your camera daily. Just the act of regularly taking a few snaps will allow you to become more familiar with your gear and will enable you to use it to its fullest. And most importantly, taking time to concentrate on something non-Covid related, is good for everyone’s health!

Week One: It’s Sunny, I’m in Good Spirits

During the past week, I added the challenge of only shooting with one camera, my new Fujifilm X100V. This camera has a fixed 23mm (35mm full-frame equivalent) lens. So any zooming has to be done with my feet. I didn’t have any troubles finding things to shoot this week. The weather was beautiful, so I found lots of light and shadow around the house.

So here are my favourite images from this first week of my project (second week of being at home). To follow along with my daily images, check out my Instagram Feed.

Until next time, please stay safe, stay home, and stay healthy!

Covid Self-Isolation Photography Project Day 1 ⁠

It is a beautiful morning as I lie here in bed. The sun is casting beautiful shadows on the wall. The light is so wonderful that it motivated me to get out of bed and find my camera. When I went into the bathroom, Aslan followed, as he usually does. I think he was hoping that I would have a shower. Aslan is our male Bengal cat who loves water! He frequently nips into the shower before I can stop him. Once he realized that this was not going to happen, he settled on the window sill to watch the birds. As I turned around after brushing my teeth, I noticed his shadow on the wall.

Day 2:

It is another beautiful day in my neck of the woods. I was watching the way the light was coming in my Kitchen window when I noticed the harsh lines of light and shadow on our tap. What I didn’t see with my own eye were the rays of light streaming through the window. Play with your camera. Experiment. Learn to see how your lens sees the world. You will be amazed with what you find!⁠

Day 3:

I’m sure that you will get to know our two Bengal cats, Aslan and Daisy, quite well by the time social distancing is a faded memory. They are sure to be the subjects of many of my isolation project images. Today Aslan sat at the counter and watched me get my breakfast. He is very social, and wants to be included in everything I do.⁠

Day 4

Yesterday I had an image of our male Bengal, Aslan. Today I would like to introduce you to Daisy, his sister. Daisy loves her over-sized hamster wheel. She runs like a cheetah chasing a gazelle, usually while you are trying to listen to the TV! The wheel sits next to a glass wall by our stairwell, so I was able to catch her reflection this morning between her sprints.⁠

Day 5

I managed to get out in the garden for a bit of a photo shoot today. The weather was overcast, so the light was very soft and dull. ⁠Hopefully tomorrow we will get some sun.⁠

Day 6

Today looks like our last day of sunshine for a while. As I was walking through our dining room I noticed the sun on our buffet set against the shadows of the sheers and light fixture. On the buffet sit a photo of my mum as a child with her mother at her side. Beside the photo is a bowl. It is currently filled with Mardi Gras beads from our time in Mississippi. However, as a child, I remember it sitting on our living room coffee table. Every Easter my sister and I would find jelly bean eggs in it. What wonderful memories sitting in the sunshine.⁠

Day 7

And it rained! Today was our first day of miserable weather. We have been blessed with sun these past three weeks. And it looks like we are in for at least a week more of Vancouver liquid sunshine! The warm and sunny spring weather made self-isolation easier to tolerate. I found it harder to motivate myself to shoot today. However, once I started pressing the shutter, I began to see images. And as a result, my mood lifted remarkably. This is my favourite shot today. My husband’s temporary office is the dining room table. He has been working ten to twelve hour days, trying to manage fallout from both Covid-19 and falling world oil prices.