Coping through a Pandemic – 10 Weeks in Lock Down

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).By CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM – This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #23312.Note: Not all PHIL images are public domain; be sure to check copyright status and credit authors and content providers., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86444014

It’s hard to believe such a beautiful structure can cause so much harm.

Preparing for Lock Down

On the afternoon of the 16th March, I chaired an Emergency Contingency meeting of the Alnwick Town Council where we discussed the arrangement we would need to put in place to undertake statutory duties in advance of what might come. We also discussed the idea of setting up a Volunteer support Group to help the residents of the town. I undertook to investigate what that might look like. This was to be the last face to face meeting for many weeks.

When I returned home my husband received a text message to say that he was in the “Vulnerable” category and that he needed to stay at home and not go out for 12 weeks because he is over 70 and has underlying conditions. I do not fall into that category so for the first week I was out and about organising and setting things up.

The Alnwick Food Bank volunteer management group were also in the same category and announced that they would not be able to continue with food bank parcels. This was not good news and the town council stepped in with volunteer councillors to keep the service open. At the time there were about 30 people a week who needed the support.

Week 1 (16th March)

In this first week we recruited over 100 volunteers. I completed a risk assessment, policies, volunteer contract and worked with the Town Clerk to put these policies in place. I set up a Facebook page and group and a dedicated email.

Well here we are one week into the Lock Down. When it was threatened I thought oh well, I’ll get ahead of my studies, sort out the sewing and knitting I’ve been going to do and develop my art skills.

Well none of that has happened. Although, I have managed to do one exercise in my coursework.

Instead I have been setting up, with my council colleagues a support scheme. In less than a week we have mapped the whole of the town, recruited 136 volunteers, developed numerous protocols, risk assessments and advice and support guidance, organised a system for picking up prescriptions, kept the Food Bank open when the volunteers running it had to go into isolation, joined one of the supermarket surplus food distribution schemes and helped in excess of 200 people requesting help.

I don’t think this is too bad for a week.

The unfortunate thing for me is that even when there is a lull between phone calls, organising volunteers or writing text my mind wanders and my photographic work is suffering. Concentration on anything else is hard work.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the next few weeks whilst we are all in lock down.

We have news of the first death in the area. A farmer from a neighbouring village, not that old in his 60s but with underlying conditions. We are now expecting the worst.

An image from my last outing before lock down

Week 2 (23rd March)

Still busy with the support group. We have recruited more volunteers, mapped the whole town, appointed coordinators to 10 areas with a responsibility for around 10 volunteers.

Facebook page and group set up to disseminate information. Dedicated email address set up for enquiries for help and support.

Volunteers delivered a flyer to every house in the town. Both pharmacies in the town were contacted and arrangements made with them for priority pick up by our volunteers. All issued with ID badges.

Appointed a dedicated Prescription team of volunteers who will rotate to deliver meds to residents.

Local charity NEED offered to deliver food parcels to residents using their vehicles. Requests for food parcels rising significantly.

Contact made with local police sergeant who advised us not to offer shopping because of the difficulty with payment. We can do click and collect.

First virtual meeting using Zoom which proved a challenge for some. Agreed that Chief Operating Officer will work under the “Powers of Emergency” in partnership with myself as Mayor and in consultation and advice of full council via Zoom meetings.

Other things that we did in those first few days included:

• Recruited an emergency Grave Digger in case of illness of the current staff.
• Prompt lists for telephone calls for volunteer use produced.
• Began picking up surplus food from M&S. Temporary freezer delivered to my garage.
• Agreed with the police that our volunteers would be supported and copy of ID badge sent so they were aware that persons carrying it were volunteers.

Week 3 (30th March)

First enquiry about pre-paid electricity meters when the person calling did not have any money. CAB contacted and advice given. Electricity cannot be turned off and there are several ways to work with suppliers to ensure that the electricity supply is maintained.

I contacted the major employers in the town to see if there was any support they needed. Most have staff on have about 30% on the furlough scheme but about another third working from home and the rest needing to be in work.

We held our second Zoom meeting of the council. These meetings are not full council meetings and can take place in private. They aim to keep all councillors and officers updated on the situation and to form part of a consultation between the Chief Officer and Councillors when exercising Emergency Powers.

Everyone updated the activity taking place in their are via our volunteers and we agreed that we would produce a newsletter.

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Week 4 (6th April)

During the month we have been confined to our homes many activities have had to be cancelled. I should have attended the opening of the Aln Valley Steam Railway extension, a very exciting addition to the town which will eventually attract more visitors which our economy rely on. I was due to visit several supported housing providers as we begin a feasibility study to assess the need in Alnwick following the demise of a previous scheme and a perceived increase of young people requiring this type of accommodation.

The Baillifgate Museum has closed and the major exhibition of the year, a touring exhibition from the Jorvik Museum in York, which involved much hard work and investment is cancelled. There is also a Storytelling project of which I am a volunteer has also been suspended and the stories of people from the area are not being captured.

I chair the Alnwick International Music Festival which usually takes place in August and with the uncertainty of the length of this lockdown and the time it will take to book acts we reluctantly agreed to cancel this year’s festival. This was a major decision because the 2019 festival took place on the wettest weekend of the year and subsequently lost money. This festival is now in jeopardy after a run of over 40 years and attracting many visitors to the town.

The town is unique in the number of small independent traders it has and many are worried about the future. Our local butcher who has been in the town for generations opened a new “farm shop without a farm”, selling locally produced and sourced products and although it can remain open, anticipated footfall is greatly reduced. Many of the traders have begun on-line trading and the butchers has started a click and collect service. Let’s hope they survive.

As I have said the town is dependent on tourism and the annual tourism fair was also cancelled.

I have also hosted virtual dinner parties with my neighbours and we have all been out on the street “Clapping for Carers” or in my case either banging a pan or a Bodhran drum.

Daily Walk – finding new walks from my door

Week 5 (13th April)

This week saw the first virtual meeting of the Book Group I organise. We discussed “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd. A very pleasing read that some of our members revisit every few years. We scored it 9/10. These kinds of activities are what keeps me going during the pandemic. It’s so nice to engage with people we haven’t seen in the flesh and the meeting developed into a general gossip and catch up. Very pleasant indeed.

I responded to a request from Her Grace, The Duchess of Northumberland who wished to write to everyone of our volunteers to acknowledge the incredible support they are providing.

Week 6 (20th April)

I was meant to be attending a Photography Workshop in York this weekend but needless to say it was cancelled so I satisfied myself with an Intentional Camera Movement webinar. Although good it wasn’t the same.

Other things out of the ordinary routine of volunteer coordination, zoom meetings and coursework was attempting to settle an argument about who would pay for the replacement of a gate on one of the allotments, the County Council got involved although the land is owned by Northumberland Estates and it was settled by the Estates agreeing that an application to the new community fund set up by them would be seen positively. I’m not going to enter into the politics of this here but suffice to say that it was a sneaky way out.

Week 7 27th April)

Not much new to report this week. I have been following the Slimming World weight loss programme for the last 9 months and managed to lose over 2 stone. Unfortunately, during the lockdown period I have been unable to shift anymore weight and feeling a bit depressed about this. We have a Monday morning Zoom support group and they are all very supportive. The positive is that I have’t put on any weight but I’m sure the gin bottles are getting smaller!

My daughter video calls me almost every day with an update on her life in lock-down, working from home in a two bedroom house and looking after a toddler. Both she and her husband are taking it in turns to work one works from 6 am – 12 md and the other from 12 md until 6pm or until they are finished. Both managing to fulfil their contracted hours and keeping a toddler entertained.

Week 8 (4th May)

The town had big plans for the Bank Holiday weekend this weekend coming. We were to have a reconstruction Soup Kitchen, a home guard battery, a spitfire, music, singing and much more going on across the town. A few people hung out bunting, including myself and I organised a VE Day Quiz with friends which went down well but it was all rather flat.

The biggest disappointment was not being able to be with family for the holiday.

We are now having Sunday lunch with our family. No we are not breaching guidelines it’s all done via Skype. The children are rather nonplussed and find it all a bit strange. My 5 year old grandson who is in Reception calls the current situation “Shutdown” and is giving his parents a tough time with his home schooling. All fine when doing interesting things like making movies for an ocean project or making mobiles for the same project but when it comes to reading he doesn’t quite get it. Maths, science and problem solving are all great but he asks why does he have to learn to read when he can talk.

Summer Seats, the best views in Alnwick

Week 9 (11th May)

Things have become much busier this week. As there is talk of things beginning to get back to normal towards the end of the month we had notification that the unit where our Music Festival equipment is stored is to be demolished to make way for a new hotel.

There is an awful lot of equipment in there much of it from a time when visiting international performers were accommodated in the High School, so camp beds, bedding, mattresses etc. Most of this is no longer needed so we had to visit the lock up to see what needed to be disposed of.

The equipment had been part of the County Council Emergency Contingency Equipment and we needed to consult with them about what they would want and how the rest would be got rid of. The Officer who attended was extremely helpful and offered to dispose of anything either of us didn’t want.

We then had to search for new premises and arrange for the stuff to be transported. Not easy when you are in lock down.

As well as continuing to lead the support group working with volunteers to identify and support our residents I have getting on with coursework and managed to achieve some of the exercises and working towards my next assignment.

I have attended many more things than I would have done if we were not in this situation and I hope it continues. I feel much more engaged in my studies and with my student colleagues as well as the OCA generally, I hope this continues after the restrictions are lifted.

Week 10 (18th May)

I think I’m going to end this journal this week.

This week I should have been jetting off to Spain to celebrate the birthday of a girl friend. Instead we satisfied ourselves with a virtual cocktail party, all suitably attired in our holiday clothes, sun hats and glasses.

We have agreed to investigate the running of a Virtual Music Festival. Much discussion took place about whether this should be live performances or live streaming. We agreed on the latter because of our lack of technical skills in this area and the poor state of our finances due to the lack of audiences last year.

I should have attended a Photography workshop in York this weekend and had to content myself with another virtual webinar. Good but not the same.

Everyone, is getting fed up with the restrictions.

Intentional Camera Movement – taken after the Webinar I attended.

Week 11(1st June)

I’ve had the usual meetings sometimes 3 or 4 in one day. It can be exhausting and frustrating because I’ve also been doing some gardening and I’m really trying to finish off all the planting I started.

Exercise 3.3 – "Late Photography"

1. Read David Campany’s essay ‘Safety in Numbness’ (see ‘Online learning materials and student-led research’ at the start of this course guide). Summarise the key points of the essay and note down your own observations on the points he raises.

David Campany has republished this essay after the book he contributed became out of print but his essay is continues to be cited.

In the essay Campany talks about “late photography” describing it as photographs that have been taken after the event and after the scene has been captured on video, when the “hysteria” and “newsworthy” is over.

1. The digital age of video recording signalled the end of the “battle/war” photographer and photographers then needed to find a new niche.
2. The global, electronic and instantaneous images that circulated after the bombing of the Twin Towers were not felt to be right to record a lasting memory of the disaster.
3. Joel Meyerowitz was commissioned to provide a photographic record and Channel 4 made a documentary of his photoshoot.
4. “late photography” has various roles as described by Campany – “undertaker, summariser or accountant”.
5. There is an affinity between late photography and forensic photography rather than photojournalism. Late photography is static, straight, often sombre, with no people.It has a different relation to memory and history than other forms of photography.
6. Late photography is solemn, still and straight and rarely does it have people in it but it does contain evidence of their activity.

Campany discusses the differences between moving images, frozen image and their relation to memory. Whilst he says that late photography is different from a “spontaneous snapshot” and also it’s “relation to memory and history”. He describes the genre not as the “trace of an event but the trace of trace of an event“. By this he means that what we see in the images are “traces, fragments, empty buildings, empty streets, damage to the body and damage to the world”.

There seems to be an underlying discussion that suggests that the viewer needs to do relatively little to engage with the videos we see on television whereas with a photograph requires the viewer to analyse what is shown and then to make a decision about what the meaning of the subject.

By making the Channel 4 documentary, the media were telling the viewer that they are looking at static photographs of Aftermath by Joel Meyerowitz and not freeze frames of videos which Campany says form about 50% of the still images we see on TV.

Look at some of Meyerowitz’s images available online from Aftermath: World
Trade Centre Archive (2006). Consider how these images differ from your own
memories of the news footage and other images of the time. Write a short
response to the work (around 300 words), noting what value you feel this ‘late’
approach has.

The images are very different from the immediacy of the TV coverage of the event in that there was no going back, the images show the final clearance of the sight with large earthmoving machines and many workers sifting through the rubble. Whereas the initial coverage was more about the attempts at rescue, the feelings of the people at the sight, the audio recordings of messages being sent to relatives. They all evoked an emotion in me of sadness and helplessness. Aftermath for me left me feeling desolate. There was nothing anyone could do except to begin to understand the events leading to the attack and the inevitable tragedies that ensued.

I watched the Channel 4 documentary and remember thinking at the time that it was a strange thing to do when there was so much video coverage of the events. However, my memory now of the disaster is very different to the images presented of Ground Zero. I have an everlasting memory of the poor folk in the tower, shouting out of windows, recordings of their last messages to their loved ones. The brave Fire fighters trying desperately to help people to get out and my one memory that always jumps into my head when Ground Zero is mentioned is the person falling from the tower.

I also have some more personal memories. At the time my husband was working in Boston, he had returned home for a few weeks but his colleague and wife were still there and his colleagues wife was on her way back to the UK, booked onto the same airline making the same original journey. There were several hours before he found out that she was safe and actually on the flight before the one that flew into the towers. A close shave for her.

References

David Campany. 2018. Safety in Numbness: Some remarks on the problems of ‘Late Photography’ – David Campany. [ONLINE] Available at: http://davidcampany.com/safety-in-numbness/. [Accessed 16/3.2020]

Joel Meyorwitz YouTube video (accessed 16.3.2020)

A World Turned Upside Down

How could we have known just a few weeks ago that life as we know it would change beyond all recognition.

On the 11th March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Coronavirus that was being transmitted across the world, a pandemic. As a Consultant in Public Health I had been watching events closely and so it came as no great surprise. I’d read about the “Flu” pandemic of 1914 when 50m people died worldwide. Surely, today with all our knowledge and all the technology this couldn’t be anything like that. How wrong I was.

On the 11th March life changed beyond all recognition for the UK as countries across Europe, began imposing stringent sanctions on populations in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus but the world is a small place in modern times, with easy access to most countries.

The first indication that life was about to change came on Sunday 16th. A music evening we were attending was cancelled at the last minute and between then and now we have advice from “social distancing” to confinement of the whole population. Except the attempts to slow the spread hasn’t worked because of ambiguous messages. After being told to stay at home on Friday 20th the following two days saw tourists spots experiencing the busiest time ever reported.

I wish I’d time to think about recording this with my camera never mind having time to get my camera out and recording it with images. No. What do I do? I set up a mutual aid support group for the whole town. At a Town Council meeting on the Monday, I suggested that we set up a support group which was agreed.

In the following 4 days we had completed a Risk Assessment, had policies and procedures in place, a Facebook page and group,a call out for volunteers and identified lead councillors for every ward in the town to coordinate activity. By the end of Thursday we had recruited our first volunteers. The weekend of the 21st we leaflet dropped every household in the town and no sooner had the first leaflet dropped from the letter box did we have the first requests for help.

We didn’t stop there. We registered for the M&S Surplus Food distribution scheme which involved me doing a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate on-line before we could do so. We sourced a freezer and acquired a large number of freezer blocks and cool boxes.

Pause for breath. I set up Zoom meetings and WhatsApp groups for Councillors (thank you, OCA for the experience and confidence to do this) and I chaired my first online meeting (now three since Thursday of last week). I’ve liaised with the police and sought their advice, investigated how to do shopping for people and the council have taken over the Foodbank as the people who run it went into isolation. The people of Alnwick have been amazing.

To top all of this I heard today that I lost my dearest friend, a friend who helped me get through some tough times and who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease a couple of years ago. Younger than me and a person full of personality and love, I will miss her so much. RIP Heather, I will never forget you.

Everything thing has been put into perspective. I can stop feeling guilty about not getting on with my studies. Life is more important and if I can help keep people safe, that has to be my priority.

However, now I know why my studies have slowed down. I was making good progress through Part 3. I’d been planning for the assignment as I worked through the exercises. I’d even been out for a test shoot for it as well as continuing with my Transition project.

In the odd half hour or so that has been quieter, I have tried to do a little bit of study but it’s been very difficult and I’ve produced nothing of much use. My concentration for study is limited and something about the current situation pops into my head and then I remember that I hadn’t done something. So I’m off again.

One thing I have done is to re-think my approach to the assignment.

Last year I had a visit to the Otterburn Firing Ranges and took a set of photos of the artillery used as target training. Many of them are quite abstract which is what I’ve been pursuing. I’m not sure if they follow the conventions but I’ve edited some to make them a bit dramatic and I’ve sent them to my tutor for comment and asking advice about using them.

I will continue to try to get some academic reading and work in but it’s very difficult in these challenging times when so many people are struggling.

Exercise 3.2 Postcard Views

1. Gather a selection of postcards (6-12) that you’ve either bought yourself or
   received from other people. If you don’t have any, then try to borrow some
   from other people, or see what you can find on an internet search. Write a brief
   evaluation (around 300 words) of the merits of the images you find. Importantly,consider whether, as Fay Godwin remarked, these images bear any relation to your own experience of the places depicted in the postcards.

I initially thought that I didn’t have any postcards but a search through drawers revealed that I had quite a number ranging from cards I’d bought on holiday and never sent through to some from the 1920s left in an antique desk, a couple of vintage ones from the mid 20th century, given to me when I became chair of the Alnwick Music Festival one or two that I bought locally.

Clearly, the styles have changed considerably. However, there is a common theme and that is that they are all idealised, attempting to show the area at it’s best. Note the very blue sky in the colour images. There are a couple of the 1920s ones that have clearly been added to so that the image is enhanced with swans or birds.

These postcards were send in 1926 probably, at the height of the popularity of the postcard, which first appeared in 1869 in Austria.

In terms of these two postcards they are clearly not how the sender would have remembered the landscape. They were produced by Phototype. Co. founded in 1919 and still operating today although, not as far as I can see producing postcards. They say on their website that they “offer one version of the truth”. https://www.phototype.com/. Which I think would describe these postcard examples very well. The addition of the swans, so obviously not part of the original shot, I found particularly interesting as an enhancement to the scene.

Claughton Photography

Dennis Print & Publishing – Photograph:Ernest Storey

The second pair of postcards is from my home town of Alnwick in Northumberland. The first composite set of images was taken a few years ago because Oscars has been closed for several years. However, there is a crest hanging on the tower which is no longer there, so it looks much like the image on the second card. The second image was taken prior to 1972 when the A1 bypass was opened. Until then this narrow entrance to the town was the main route A1 from London to Edinburgh. I remember sitting in the back of my father’s car for what seemed like hours queuing to get through this narrow gateway.

Impact Photographics

The final two postcards are of the Grand Canyon which I visited a few years ago. I asked my husband how well these represented the views that we experienced and he felt they were representative. However, we were not there at this time of day so the light is different, the colours are much more vivid than I recall or the ones I captured on my camera (see image below).

However, apart from the colours and the processing idealising the view, the image itself is similar to what I experienced.

Grand Canyon, Lynda Wearn.

It’s not surprising that the images are idealised. After all they are a marketing tool for the area and as such the photograph chosen will inevitably one that shows the area at it’s absolute best. So reflecting on Fay Godwin’s remark, they are all recognisable places that I can identify with, however I wish the sky was that blue everyday in Alnwick (it is today but not always).

2. Write a brief response (around 200 words) to Graham Clarke’s comments
above. Do you think it’s possible not to be a ‘tourist’ or ‘outsider’ as the maker of landscape images?

Graham Clark (1997, p.73) remarks:
“… the landscape photograph implies the act of looking as a
privileged observer so that, in one sense, the photographer of
landscapes is always the tourist, and invariably the outsider.
Francis Frith’s images of Egypt, for example, for all their concern
with foreign lands, retain the perspective of an Englishman looking
out over the land. Above all, landscape photography insists on the
land as spectacle and involves an element of pleasure.”

I think I have more questions than answers to this question.

I wonder if the photograph of anything implies the act of looking as a privileged observer? Even in street photography we are looking into the everyday lives of people is this not a privilege to do so?

The definition “tourist” in the Cambridge dictionary is:

someone who visits a place for pleasure and interest, usually while on holiday

I would question the last word of the definition “holiday” because one can visit a place for pleasure and interest without being on holiday.

Clarke’s words imply that they refer only to landscapes taken on holiday. How many landscape photographs are taken on other occasions? As part of a journey, a day out or a walk.

The words also imply that it is a country landscape that we are privileged to look at. There are many industrial landscapes, are we also so privileged to be an observer of these images to?

Staying with industrial landscapes. Do these always include an element of pleasure? Are they not sometimes documenting how things are and are not exactly pleasurable and may even be disturbing.

Brown Coal Power Station, North Rhine – Westphalia, Germany, (© Ana Gram – stock.adobe.com)

The Ana Gram image above is well composed and the colours are pleasant but in the age of Climate Change and our improving knowledge of what pollutants can do to people and the planet is this image not more disturbing than pleasing?

The words imply that the observer, is detached and only superficially interested and we can only guess at what the intention of the photographer is. The photographer is not necessarily an “outsider”, they may live or work in the landscape of the photograph. There are many reasons why a photograph is taken and it may not only be to elicit pleasure from the viewer but to inform, raise awareness or as a marketing/commercial one.

However, all that said and in the words of Elina Brotherus “Photographs tell as much about the observer as they do about their author.”

References

Anderer J. (2019)Smog & Sadness: Study Suggests Link Between Air Pollution & Psychiatric Disorders Study Finds in a nutshell https://www.studyfinds.org/smog-sadness-study-suggests-link-between-air-pollution-psychiatric-disorders/ (accessed 10.3.2020)

Brotherus E. Photographs tell as much about the observer as they do about their author. Collectors Agenda https://www.collectorsagenda.com/en/in-the-studio/elina-brotherus?id=4231 (accessed 10.3.2020)

Cambridge Dictionary (on-line) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tourist (accessed 10.3.2020)