Things are still pretty quiet here in Shanghai, which is giving me an opportunity to update my blog fairly regularly. Although it seems that the coronavirus situation has more or less stabilised in China, it threatens to get out of control beyond these borders. Here, restaurants are slowly starting to open, but there is still a ban on public gatherings so major events are still on ice. As someone who is mainly a location based commercial photographer, this makes things tough and when this situation will change is anyone’s guess. I can weather a major downturn for three months, but six months or more is going to stretch me a little. However, there are so many people for whom life is truly a struggle just to get by and I do appreciate that I have things relatively easy. Regardless, I do need to keep telling myself that there’s no use getting stressed about things that are beyond my control, such as whether I will be able to attend the Head On photography festival in Sydney this May.
I have a featured solo show at Head On and I’m also in two group shows, so Head On is certainly a festival I don’t want to miss. I have to accept that I may miss it though. With the current situation with international travel, I could travel to Australia, but then I’d need to arrive two weeks early and be in self quarantine until the festival kicks off. I had only planned to attend Head On for a week, so that’s not a very tempting proposition. Furthermore, I had planned to attend the festival with Vanessa since both our birthdays are in the first week of May. As she’s a Chinese national she can’t even travel to Australia at the moment, so this is another case of wait and see. Accommodation in Sydney has already been arranged and I thought I’d be booking air tickets around about now.
Anyway, I’ve continued to head outside a few times a week to do some street shooting, which I then edit, caption and send to Polaris in New York City. Pretty much every scene with a human being is about the coronavirus since everyone is wearing a mask and sometimes other protection. I’m mainly shooting with my Nikon D850, which is a great camera that I still have to get used to a little. The main difference between this and earlier ones is that it has a little joystick to move the focus point around. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s there. The D850 is my sixth Nikon DSLR and it’s the best by far. I had thought about upgrading to the Z series of mirrorless Nikon cameras, but I was more interested in the Z6 than the Z7, but the former hadn’t been released when I got my D850. The size of the Z series and in-built stabilisation on all lenses was tempting, as was it’s superior video capabilities. The D850 has better auto focus in low light and better battery life, so in the end that won me over.
When I go out shooting I’m looking for everyday scenes that are coloured by the ongoing outbreak. Besides anything else I think it’s important to contribute to the record of this time. Like everyone, I can hardly wait until the crisis subsides.
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