Self Isolation - an Opportunity?

It's looking likely that some, perhaps many, of us in the UK will find ourselves self-isolating in the fairly near future even though we are feeling OK. The problems and inconveniences are obvious . But might it also be a photographic opportunity? I'm thinking that after all the necessities of isolated life are dealt with, there might be time left to do things that in normal times would get pushed down the list.

So... if you were self isolating, feeling OK and had some otherwise unused time, what would you do photographically?

My top two to kick off:
1. Sort out and process the vast numbers of image files that are sitting on the computer waiting for me to get round to doing it.
2. Play around with table-top macro, try to get some interesting pictures. Find out what kit (camera, macro lenses, reversed lenses, tubes+lens etc.) is best for what type of picture instead of my usual 'what do I feel like using today?' approach.

Over to you...

Steve

I'm personally confused as to what the issue with Coronavirus is. I doubt that I'll look to self-isolate at any point unless it's unequivocally confirmed by a medical professional that I must. Until then, I'll treat it as flu insofar as 'if I get it I'll avoid contact with others' with takes on 'don't come near me I'm ill' type phrases, and maintain my personal hygiene that's seen me ill for only two days in 4.5 years of work (additionally, with a perfect attendance record in university for the 5 years prior to that). I digress as that's not what the topic is about.

If the worst does happen and I do have to isolate myself, I'll probably flit through the archives and do some edits, re-edits, etc. Perhaps finally use up the rest of the film in the MX and give it a set of new seals that she so definitely deserves (in other news, the back popped open in a carry case down the beach so I've definitely got some fubar'ed shots there I reckon ).

Otherwise it'll be a case of checking out various editing techniques for when I want to do something a little more 'hipster' or 'film-emulated' and fiddle around with those. Sort out the space on my hard drive with backups to a couple of hard drives, etc.

Fiddling with lenses and that sort of dealio would be nice, but my camera is currently off for repairs so unless it arrived back before I become quarantined I wouldn't be able to tinker.

If you really have time to kill try submitting photos to stock agencies; TBH the small financial reward doesn’t reflect the effort required but every little helps. First to try is Shutterstock, a typical sale will be 25 US cents, I have around 700 photos and get several sales a week and occasionally a higher fee is received. But for me the most interesting bit is they show where they have been downloaded, a clematis from my garden has shown up in several Northern European countries, Russia and New Zealand, and a snap of my sundial ended up in Mexico. They accept photos for commercial and editorial use and you need to check how those apply.

Next up is Adobe Stock although they only accept photos for commercial use so I have a much smaller portfolio there, they pay a similar rate to SS. The bonus for me was last year if you get 300 accepted with a better than 50% rejection rate then you get free Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for a year; I don’t know if that will be repeated this year but it’s worth doing.

There are other agencies, I also submit to Alamy, a smaller outfit which pays out much more per download but there are far less of them, I have only managed three in the last year but others do much better.

The photos do have to be of a certain technical standard and the sites give guidelines on what is required, but for subject matter anything goes: my biggest selling photo on SS is of a 1980s reel to reel tape recorder. Well it’s better than watching daytime tv anyway.

Nice suggestions Rob - Presumably you can't submit the same photos to multiple agencies?

There seems to be a presumption that self isolation means you can't leave home, but rightly or wrongly I interpret it as keep a good distance between yourself and others, and not touching anything that others might touch.

So, I could wander around in an open space with my camera, and use my own legs, car, etc to get there and back if distant from my home.

Thoughts?

Yes you can, Alamy for instance pays a different commission if you tick the exclusive to Alamy box, but that isn’t always the case. Some more professional stock photographers use special software which, once you have put in all the search terms, post automatically to multiple agencies. If you are organised, which I am not, you can add search terms to you photos in Lightroom so they automatically load onto each site. If you are interested it’s worth looking up Nicole Glass on YouTube for useful info.

Unfortunately, I can work from home, and usually do around 50% of the time. Otherwise I'd love a few days or even weeks to:

1. Develop all the B&W films I have shot which are lounging in the fridge
2. Process and organise all the digital images I've accumulated on many SD cards
3. Work out an effective DSLR scanning setup and scan all my negatives

Alas, I think all of that would need a couple of months to do, not days or weeks.

I'm with you on this! I'll be self isolating on many local beaches to me

I think that some companies would expect you to work if you self-isolate and have laptop/phone.

I will wait until I have flu-like symptoms and binge on Netflix/Prime; then in the recovery phase go through my old HDDs and do some tidying up before going through my Cuba, St Lucia, Trinidad, Costa Rica, Prague and Goodwood 77mm photos..

I think you are both confusing selfish isolation with self isolation

John

I wouldn't say it's selfish. Everything I read says it isn't an airborne disease although if someone coughs or sneezes then there will be micro vapour particles but you'd have to be very close to breath these.
With this in mind and the fact I live literally 5 minutes from the coastline then I feel that as long as I don't come into contact with anyone else then the risk to others is pretty much zero.

But how do explain to your kids that they can't go out to play, or to join you on the beach if you are supposed to be self isolating?
How do you plan on disinfecting all the surfaces you touch which someone else may touch? The virus seems to survive for a couple of days on smooth surfaces.
If you have symptoms you should stay home and seek help, even for mild symptoms.
If you are the only member of the family with symptoms you are supposed to restrict yourself to a single room in the house, no roam about it freely.

I would have no problem with it since most of my days are spent in isolation anyway.

My son found it hard trapped in a hotel room whilst waiting the results of his test.

I think a Photography show is a safer venue than a commute to work at rush hour, on a bus, train or tube , twice a day, 5 times a week.

There is always the horse racing at Cheltenham , this event is still on.

This has wandered a bit from the original question about photographic things you'd do at home if you had some enforced spare time. But it's made me remember the photographic resource that's literally on the doorstep - the garden. So here's another thing for my list:
3. Try to get some garden photos that are as creative and high quality as those that LennyBloke posts on the forum from time to time. Not copying his style, rather using it as inspiration.

Having a wife who has several ticks in the 'vulnerable' box, if I have to self isolate it will be very thorough for her sake. As far as I can tell, if she catches the virus it may as well be Russian Roulette with a 6-shooter. So I'd appreciate it if those thinking of taking a more relaxed aproach to moving around take people like her into account. And if you think someone can move around without leaving traces on surfaces, ask a forensic scientist

Steve

Sad thing is, in my day you couldn't keep me in for wanting to go out and play. Kids nowadays, I can't get them out, addicted to tablets, games consoles and YouTube!
The only thing I'd need to disinfect would be my camera gear and my front door handle but no one uses my gear, I'm too precious over it


Question, as said already we know Coronavirus isn't an airborne disease so if I choose to walk to the beach which is 5 mins from my front door or if you choose to shoot in your garden that presumably backs onto other back gardens then both are safe if both of us don't come into contact with anyone else, and the government says its transmitted via close proximity which is under 2 metres seperation which won't happen then there is no risk to anyone else. I think a forensic scientist would agree the risks are low to non existant if you're the only person out or if you are but keeping well clear of others.