“Effective ‘lockdown’ to be introduced Published: 23 Mar 2020 22:24
Part of: Health and social care, Public safety and emergencies, Coronavirus in Scotland
Ban on public gatherings of more than two.
The First Minister has tonight called for an immediate stop to public gatherings of more than two people in Scotland in a bid to flatten the curve of Covid-19 spread and protect the NHS.”

-Scottish Goverment

The streets emptied and the shops closed. Life as we knew it had changed.

The question now has become "will this go back to normal?" and “do we want it to?”. As I spend more of my time locked down I see that a project about a temporary lockdown could be documenting businesses that probably will not survive.

One of the clear objectives of this project was to accomplish it as soon as possible as this entire situation is time-sensitive. MUCH more importantly, I had to observe the lockdown (because I don’t want this to go on any longer than it has to and there are peoples lives at stake). I went about a routine of exercise, once a day and took my camera with me each time.

These images were taken almost exclusively with a Nikon F5 and on Ilford HP5 film. This can sometimes make things a little bit expensive but in this case, it wasn't too bad as I was developing and scanning my own film from home. If you are keen on doing this yourself I have provided the link to the UK based Analogue Wonderland.

Why Black and White? No really, why?!? Didn't you buy an expensive digital camera?
yes, ok, fine. It is a bit hipster but I have been shooting film alongside my digital work since I started taking photos. Almost exclusively black and white images I might add... With the removal of colour, an image becomes almost exclusively about the content within your frame which helps to focus peoples attention. I also don't seem to be able to replicate my results from film in digital. That's ok. A lot of people seem to think the two must be linked by skill level and that somehow digital is easier than film. That's not the case. They are just different. When I stop liking my film work I will stop using it.

If you would like to see how how a major city looks when it is stripped of it people then you can get one of these zines(while stock lasts) from my shop here:- https://www.itchyphotog.com/shop

Where I get my film:-
https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/
https://www.ilfordphoto.com/