The New Normal
The first months of the Corona time have passed me by, at least in photographic terms. In this crazy, frightening, confusing and every day rapidly changing time, I actually hardly existed photographically. For a variety of reasons, I have not documented this time – not even a bit. No photographic lockdown diary. No photos of almost empty streets and deserted airports. No documentations of lines in front of supermarkets and empty shelves without pasta and toilet paper. Nothing…
Either I was too busy in my real-life job or I was just not in the mood to document all this. Sometimes I regret this, of course. On the other hand, I can well imagine what would have come out of it if I had grabbed my camera every day. Due to lack of time and mental freedom, I would certainly not have captured the good things in pictures. All the hope, the neighbourhood help, the confidence for a good future you also could find everywhere. These things are not so obvious, and you don’t discover them in between. You need time and rest for that – and I didn’t have that.
But Corona is not over. Admittedly, due to the low infection numbers at the moment the overall situation became relatively normal – whatever we consider normal these days. It has just become normal to walk around with masks in many places and still keep a basic distance to your fellow human beings. But many things are not (yet) as they were before – not even with masks on our faces. Who knows when there will be pub nights, worry-free travel and big celebrations or events again. Or normal school lessons and offices full of people.
But life goes on – and we can adapt. This is what we are doing in many areas of our life and work. And since the pandemic is certainly not yet over, that will remain so for the time being. And until then, we will slowly go back to restaurants, to shops, to work or to the hairdresser. Just a little bit different than before – just like in the New Normal.
And it’s not always that bad and that horrible… we are still human beings under our masks! 😉
Stay healthy, stay human and watch out for yourself!
Hi Peter,
great post, a great photo story and portraits!
Your words hit the mark…I felt the same way like you during the lockdown, I didn’t take any photos outside the house, I just wasn’t in the mood, too irritated from wearing a mask, too occupied with keeping distance of other people, too biased towards the negative side of life, not able to see and open to feel.
Thx for sharing, stay safe.
Norbert
Hi Henning,
thanks a lot for your words and thoughts. Yes, it‘s a somehow tough time… but we should turn to the positive!
Watch out for yourself, too.
Peter
Let us hope that lockdowns do not become the “new normal” response to every new virus, or we’ll be spending a big part of what is left of our ruined lives under house arrest in our pretend democracies.
A somewhat simple reaction to a rather complex problem… but hey, fortunately we can still say what we want in our „pretend democracies“…
No offense… 😉
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