Covid-19 Street Photography

Documenting the city of London after the Covid-19 lockdown

At the start of this year, I remember meeting with a bunch of photography friends, hugging, shaking hands, and enthusiastically talking about the exciting year we had ahead. Little did we know this wouldn’t be the case and those hugs might be the last we shared for a long time. 

Who would have thought 2020 would offer up a global pandemic with the power to change the world as we know it? Speaking for myself here, Covid-19 has been the most monumental and mind-boggling thing that I’ve had to live through so far. However, as confusing as this time has been it’s equally offered a time of calm and an opportunity to reflect, as discussed further in my piece Pressing “Pause” on Creativity During the Pandemic.

With this enforced “break” from normality, it’s given me a chance to focus (no pun intended) on street photography and so the opportunity to go out and capture some frames around my home town of London is becoming quite a regular exercise. 

So far I think there has been a shift in my approach to street photography as my general approach is to get in close to my subjects, to almost become enveloped in the scene. However, the idea of getting in close to subjects at this time doesn’t seem like a responsible approach to capturing a scene. So I’ve spent a lot of time rethinking how I’ll move forward with any Covid-19 Street Photography. Our recently published article in fujixpassion.com discusses in a little more detail, an alternative camera setup when capturing street photos in Post-Lockdown London with a 50mm equivalent focal length. 

Although staying further away from our subjects, and zooming in, feels like a natural solution to the new world order of street photography, I’m not totally convinced just yet. Perhaps I’m avoiding the idea of permanently using a lens/camera setup that I’m not used to for street photography as 35mm (equivalent) has always been my go-to focal length. Time will tell, however, as I continue to explore and document the effects of Covid-19, I’ll take the opportunity to explore different cameras, lenses, street photography techniques and scope out more of the best London Street Photography Locations.

I’d be interested to hear about how Covid-19 is affecting your approach to street photography so please leave a comment below and in the meantime check out some recent frames below.   Take care and stay safe;