Συλλογή 010: The Pandemic Collection
It's no secret. A little over a year ago we went into lockdown. A pandemic. I must say, call me naive for having too much faith in humanity these days, I thought it would be a trying few months but at the end we would have pulled through. Many concerned were drawing parallels to the 1918 Flu Pandemic. I believed we were considerably better poised and equipped to deal with this. We had no World War, we have better tools for protection against infection, detection of viruses and outbreak monitoring. Yet looking back, I can't help but feel that we failed, we failed badly. Certainly there were some glimmers of optimism (I certainly missed some): the incredible speed at which not one but at least four vaccines were developed and deployed; the quick development of detection kits; the efforts of many to help those in need; activism and civic duty even in the face of a pandemic. Yet these were not enough to counter selfishness demonstrated by childlike petulance. Not enough to counter ignorance and rejection of the truth, facts. Not enough to counter the constant selective hearing and interepretation of rules that were quite clear.
During this time I must say we were grateful for many things, one of them living next to a national park that allowed us to escape late evenings, to take a break. I must say as I walked through the trails I can sense that nature reclaimed its spot, just for a little. I used this time to work on close ups and low light photos.
I like to dedicate this collection to the ones that work tirelessly helping others, the sick as well as those is need. To the loved ones lost and to the ones who survived the infection but suffered through. One hopes that we learn something from this.
These as well as additional photos can be also seen here. You can see them at a much higher resolution.
A. Here is a collection of flower close ups. It was not easy as I did not carry a tripod and in some the light was quite low. So stability was a must. Lots of deep breathing....
B. Like I said nature was having a blast during the early days of the pandemic. We saw foxes, the deer of course, owls were daring and did I say foxes. One little one became Rachel's friend. No pics though. Sorry.
Caught this young buck on the move:
As I was walking through the Melvin Hazel trail is saw this racoon just chilling on the tree until the little ones came out and ended the peace. One of my favorite pics.
Also enjoy a cute chipmunk.
And a spider close up using close-up filters
C. These series of photo are low light. Some I managed to capture exactly as one would see them.
This photo was a bit out of focus but when I looked at it it gave me the impression of a painting.
D. The next series are black and whites. Well took them as black and whites...
The bear did put on a mask after the mandate.
Connecticut at 9pm. At this hour it is still bustling. Now eerily empty. There were nights I could jog on it and not see a car.
Befitting of our predicament.
E. Finally a collection of pics from our new place. In some (the sunsets, 2 before the last) I did play with Affinity Photo to create somewhat of a dramatic effect.
I hope you enjoyed this collection. For more photos please visit my main site.