Thinking back I'm surprised I was still able to do a job at the start of March. I mean, China had been struggling with containing the Covid-19 virus and Italy was the first country to take the beating in Europe. Myself in the meantime, was working on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia. On the way back the airplanes were already empty and panicked buying had started in Oz. This is when people started buying the essentials things to survive whatever is coming and funny enough in Australia that happened to be toilet paper. The airports felt eerie, empty, and we got the experience the first temperature checks. It felt so bizarre to be at Hong Kong airport and there was only a hand full of people walking around, who would have thought this all would happen! When I was back in The Netherlands where we lived in that moment of time we knew what was coming, the next day after our 24 hour flight we did our groceries and were happy to see that the toilet paper, flour etc was untouched, the day after this is when the panic buying also started on this side of the world.
A couple of days later I was meant to fly to Spain for Brooks Running US, I was part of a big important shoot and President Trump had already closed the borders which ment that the Client, who already in Europe had to fly back. We told the client that we could still get the job done for them as we have been working with them for years. The client agreed and as we were packing our bags Spain announced that they were potentially going into a lockdown. Looking back at it is easy to understand what is going on but at the time no one knew what was happening. Do we fly tomorrow or don’t we? We decided not to go and the production team had to cancel the accommodation, flights for the models, client, production, photographers, styling, etc, etc. It was a big call to make, a lot of money was lost. I remember thinking “that’s great, a lockdown, streets will be empty and we can shoot at all of the dream locations without people in the background”. It was obviously that I was new to the pandemic game, and I think everyone was unless you lived through the Spanish Flew in 1918-1920.
So, there I was, ‘social distancing’ at home working in the home office and no idea what was coming as a self-employed creative man trying to keep his business afloat. Luckily I don’t get bored easily. Their is always lots to do, to create, new techniques to explore. I must admit that I enjoyed the silence and not having to travel constantly felt great. Having a rhythm at home, go for a couple of runs every week, and see spring change the landscape.
Work was dead for months. No new jobs, and the jobs I had scheduled were cancelled. Roughly two months later work started coming back to me, step by step with only small budgets and we had to find a way to work with that awkward 1,5m distance. At the start of July, the bigger jobs started to come in with a full crew. Some of the borders in Europe opened, stoked we could do photoshoots again the way we used to and it was the start of summer. Absolutely loved working again, to be able to be outside and work outside with the crew and models and embrace that freedom. After the ‘Intelligent lockdown we ‘had in The Netherlands, literally all my clients had figured out what this pandemic meant for their company and luckily they all found ways to work with and around it. July and August were fully booked and even got to roam and shoot around and empty streets of Paris for a couple of days which, who would have thought, empty streets in Paris! Pre Corona I used to have 2 months that were very busy with all of the brands wanting to shoot at the same time and then 2 months where things were slow and I could be in one place for a while. Now a slower period has stared we all know that the 2nd peak has arrived. What will this fall and winter be like? I hope everyone finds a way whether you're working in a big company or you are self-employed. Find a way, and keep in mind that the world is sick, we have to look after her.
Check out blog post 086 | The unknown. part1.