COVID-19: The unseen virus

This was a difficult task, deciding a suitable subject which I could complete whilst living with lock down.  The COVID-19 virus is affecting everything and everyone, and my plans to create a series of images to portray the unseen, see my list under Reflections. I was trying to think of another suitable subject, and then, yesterday morning, while the frost was still on the ground and the sky a perfect blue, I look down the canal to see a line of boats, their inhabitants safely locked inside away from the virus.  I had my subject.  How the lockdown has affected the canals and boaters as a result of the unseen: the virus.

We recently received a directive from the Canal and River Trust (CRT), the body who manages and maintains most of Britain’s inland waterways, advising boaters only to move boats if absolutely necessary, and if living on a boat, to adopt the government directive of only going out for essential shopping, and only going out once a day for exercise.  For “live-aboard” boaters, particularly those who do not moor in a commercial marina where all the facilities are available, essential shopping covers more than food and toilet rolls. 

We need:

• Petrol for generators
• Diesel for engines
• Coal
• Water
• Access to toilet emptying facilities. 

Boatyards have closed, and hireboat companies have suspended their activities, so these facilities are few and far between.

I wanted to create a series of images which capture the canal culture under the lock down restrictions. To use David Hurn’s terminology, I see this as an Essay, rather than a Story, ie: a series of related images which may be viewed in any order. In Hurn’s view a Story relates to a set of images which follow a narrative and should be viewed in a specific order for the story to  make sense. (Hurn, 2008).

I decided to take the photographs in colour rather than black and white because the canal is a usually a colourful place and I felt that to photograph in black and white would lose that vibrancy.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take as many photographs as I would have like because the day after I took these initial photographs, CRT issued another directive saying that everyone should avoid the tow paths because many are not wide enough for people to pass safely, and also the inhabitants of the boats could also be put at risk as people pass by too closely.  So I was unable to complete the project. 

Fortunately, I have been able to put together a series of images from that first day.  

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Bibliography

Hurn, D. (2008) On being a Photographer.