The images denote parts of Canterbury in the original lockdown with the images being taken during the first national lockdown. The images denote an empty city centre. The images show how the lockdown has removed everyone due to the stay-at-home order that was in place at the end of March and April. The images connote the senses of emptiness were the normally packed city centre has got not none going down the high street. The images communicate the feeling of loneliness as only key workers or people going for a daily walk could be out most of the times with places being forced to close to stop the spread. From the images, you see how nothing is going on with people who know the centre makes it harder to get your head around how empty Canterbury was.
As a viewer, I am affected by how the virus has destroyed the town centre with hardly anyone going out. The images show the subjects first at distance to show social distancing measures that are in place. The work makes people feel sad due to not being able to go out and do their normal shopping the images impression changes when you understand more about what is going at the location of the shots.
The context that I have seen the work has been online on my laptop this gives the images less power to shine due to it giving me a small picture. The work would be stronger in a gallery as the images would work well when they are made into the full proportion that people would need to see to get to understand what is going on. The best gallery to show these images will be The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury show how the town has fared during the lockdown and has come out if it. I think the work could work well with something like Hold still that went around the United Kingdom to show how certain images will always be powerful no matter what has changed.
The work is significant to my project as it focuses on one of the locations that I am planning on photographing in. The composition of the wide shots of the locations and the medium shots of the subjects makes the images flow smoothly and look stronger. I am planning on taking this visual style further on in my work when I photograph on location. The style of having the images designed to look simply is important as it allows the viewer to follow what is going on at the location without having to pay too much attention to the shots, I am not planning to get an empty street now as I do not know how the lockdown is going to be the second time around. I like how the photographer has used the major location of the Canterbury city centre this allows people who do not Canterbury that well to understand what is going on there.
The strengths of the work are that it shows how the town has become empty to the restrictions and how the life that we lead has impacted on it. I am planning to add my style on to the work as a set these images work well and are incredibly strong. I am planning on using the High-street and not the side location in my work.
The intended audience for this was for people who read the local news as it was published on the local news website Kent Online. The work is important to understand what is going when it comes to the current pandemic and the impact that it is having on the local community. Reading the images today amazes me thinking that over 9 months ago that the country was in this current situation and was facing a huge problem. The images will always shock people when they see how Canterbury has been affected in lockdown version one and my images will be focusing on the second Lockdown.
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