What Now? What’s Next? Life through a Socially Distant Lens.

What Now? What’s Next? Life Through a Socially Distant Lens.

Photo: (Above) An empty picnic table on a dock on a quiet lake in the morning, Lafayette Reservoir, Lafayette, California

Is it just me? Alone… but not alone. The COVID-19 pandemic is a chilling reminder that we are a social species. We thrive and survive as a social group. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’re reaching the end of our first month of Social Distancing. It’s been long enough that now I sense dueling veils dropping over my perceptions; one is how surreal this all seems while the other is the slowly-dawning awareness of what is likely to be our new normal. Do you feel it, too?

In times of economic turmoil, things like art and photography (read: artists and photographers) drop almost instantly to the bottom of the business-world priority list. In fact, I think it’s more like we get chopped off the bottom of the spending totem-pole. Like many others, I’ve seen income vanish, only to be replaced by copious amounts of concern and sobering thoughts. For instance: What now?

In my last post, “The Interconnected Nature of Everything and Looking for New Opportunities,” I talked about finding ways to remain productive and find new things to photograph while stuck at home. Well, I can say my office is cleaner than it’s been in a year and my hard drives have all been re-organized. Photography-wise, I’ve carried my camera on a couple of local wellness hikes, and have been taking some photos around the house using my cellphone, with the latter being for personal enjoyment more than any professional considerations.

I’ve mentioned to my wife and friends that I feel like I’m at the start of a brand new college semester, staring at a blank chalkboard, but with no idea of what class I’m in, what I’ll be learning, or who the teacher will be; I’m just sitting in an empty classroom waiting for the class to start.

So… What’s Next?

The short answer is, “I don’t know.” When the Shelter-in-Place orders were first put in place — here in the Bay Area, we were the first in the country to be under such orders — folks were talking about restrictions lasting about a month. Most of us now know this will probably span multiple months with a slow, drawn-out return to something which might barely resemble our previous notion of normal. Sadly, I think this will be more like 9/11; there will be a before COVID-19 and for the foreseeable future, an after COVID-19.

These are just a couple of photos that seem to express how many of us may be feeling about the world at this moment. But I’m trying to also focus on those other aspects of life which often may get overlooked or easily forgotten during our “normal” running-around pre-COVID-19 life.

So, that’s how I’m doing at the moment.

“Woof.”*

How are you doing?
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*For those who don’t know me, this is the word I use — for good or bad — when no other words quite fit the moment.

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Gary Crabbe is an award-winning commercial and editorial outdoor travel photographer and author based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has seven published books on California to his credit, including “Photographing California; v1-North”, which won the prestigious 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal Award as Best Regional title. His client and publication credits include the National Geographic Society, the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TIME, The North Face, Subaru, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Sunset Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, and many more. In 2018, The USPS selected a nearly-unprecedented seven of Gary’s photographs to become U.S. Postage ‘Forever’ Stamps as part of the O Beautiful collection. Gary is also a photography instructor and consultant, offering both public and private photo workshops. He also works occasionally as a professional freelance Photo Editor.

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