Remembering Lockdown
Remembering lockdown – One year since we woke up in a series of Hollywood disaster movies. This one was called real life. It was chilling, confusing, frightening and more real than any 3d movie we’d ever seen. It featured our homes, our families, our friends, our health care systems, our schools, shops, workplaces and every part of our life that we knew well and it took these things away from us too.
We were hiding behind our 4 walls from an invisible virus. We were living in a world of the Walking Dead, just without the zombies. We were running from natural disasters that we couldn’t see. We all thought that contact with a Covid-19 patient would pass the virus on and death would entail. And while sadly, a similar situation did occur for hundreds of thousands, there were also hundred of thousands that survived this deadly virus.
Our kids came home from school and sat inside, becoming glued to technology. A world where professionals tell us to limit out children’s screen time. It was a catch 22 and became a battle of priorities – education and extended screen time or no learning for 6 months and fall behind in class. Covid-19 changed our priorities and turned our rules and regulations upside down.
Work stopped. Our earnings stopped and the government had to pay our salaries. Except those in the 3 million excluded group. People who had a year of work booked and, on a normal year, would’ve been better off than many of us. Yet the government forgot they had a right to basic needs too. Our family was lucky enough not to fall inside this group and I thank my lucky stars every day. Because at the end of the day, there was not much anyone could do to earn the money they needed to pay the bills and feed their families.
‘We can’t save every business’ became the reasoning for not helping 3 million people. Perhaps this was true, but we were in lockdown to save the NHS and help saves lives. The excluded group have many stories of people taking their own lives. Surely saving lives is about saving lives, regardless of way they have died.
Our photography studio closed up after my last newborn shoot. I took the laundry home and left the props and setups ready to clean up the next day, as it was school run time. The studio stayed as it was for weeks. Like the owners had just upped and left. I just couldn’t bear to go to a place I loved. The place that gave me money to pay the rent and feed my 3 kids.
But the studio became a place that I loved more than ever. A place that reminded me at this point in life just how important photography was. How important it is to capture memories of your loved ones. How important it is to get in front of the camera for your little ones to remember you. You can’t compete with a photograph memory when that’s all that you’re left with.
A year ago at 5pm, my heart broke for so many things. I still feel lost a year later. I am still in lockdown – Lockdown 3.0. The government are talking about a 3rd Covid-19 wave. With every wave comes a lockdown for so many businesses. So while I ‘celebrate’ one year since the first lockdown with a Covid-19 vaccine just a few days ago, I’m wary about how this all fits in with the ‘new’ normal.
My thoughts are with all of those who have lost lives and loved ones due to Covid-19. My issues are nothing compared to what you’ve all gone through. I don’t have words that will bring you much comfort, but sending you love, light and strength
Remembering Lockdown and Remembering those lives that have been lost. And remembering all the NHS staff and keyworkers that have risked their lives to save others.
Stay safe everyone and make sure you check on your friends and family regularly. Not everyone asks for help, even when they need it most!
Take care,
Leanne x