You don’t gotta do as I do, but let me explain why I am doing what I am doing:
1. For history
Thucydides wrote in his history:
I am writing this because I find this a hugely epic moment in history, and I hope this history will benefit future generations of humanity.
Similarly — I am doing the same. I am not just a photographer– I am the future historical photographer. I am literally documenting and making history, as I am living THROUGH history.
2. To lessen fear.
Obviously COVID-19 is a big deal, but I don’t think we should be as afraid as we should. Why? Fear-feeds, and fear-porn propagated by the media to maximize their dollars.
Honestly, we as humans have gone through 100000x worse events in history. Thus I think because most of us haven’t really experienced any sort of war-time situation, we are reacting the only way we can react — with wide-spread fear.
3. To discover the truth for myself.
To make photos and street photos is very sociological. I see myself more like a street sociologist than a ‘street photographer’. Now all these photos I’m shooting — I am more interested in the sociological aspect of things, than making it super ‘artsy-fartsy’.
For example: Amazon Prime, workers, delivery services, and people who still gotta work (in the streets).
Girl in my apartment building getting Whole Foods amazon Prime delivery. Amazon Flex Services Construction workers still working during COVID Gardeners still working during COVID Life goes on — kid playing with mother and father during COVID
4. Joy
My message:
Regardless of the pain and suffering in life, being alive (even in fear and turmoil) is 10000x better than never being born!