My life one year later

My life one year later

A year ago things started with the Corona pandemic and the lockdowns. All of my planned projects were cancelled and I could no longer do my job. I would like to take the anniversary as an occasion and briefly give an update on how I am currently doing.

 

The past weeks and months have not been easy for me. There were moments when i was desperate. Without having a perspective on when I will be able to work again, I find it difficult to keep my head up. I believe, it's important to mention this publically, because not everybody seems to be aware of the situation of artists during this pandemic.

Especially not the politicians. There also is no financial support for me, because I always saved money (my retirement plan) and have to live from this now.

I don't feel like writing about politics and just want to summarize: The situation is difficult.

But I stay strong.

Then I have moments when I say to myself that it affects all of us and even worldwide. I tell myself to stay strong and that time will go by. The good thing is that I have read a lot about meditation and building a positive mindset recently. This helps me during these times.

It always sounds like you have an incredible amount of free time when you can't work. Fortunately, this is not the case, because I filled my days well. I did a lot around the house during the pandemic. I regularly bake bread myself, renovate and renew a lot of things in the apartment and I continue to educate myself.

In addition, I now do sports every day and have stopped drinking alcohol completely. I want to loose some weight and be in good shape again in May. At the moment I still feel like a sumo wrestler. Overweight but with a lot of muscles.

I spent a lot of time experimenting with Photoshop and retouching. I practiced drawing and improved my skills.

Luckily selling art prints is going pretty good and I also write blog articles regularly (which takes me longer than you might imagine). And I prepared new photo sets from outtakes from the past. So, I can publish one new series per month on my website. Not the best images — there was a reason why these were outtakes — but better than nothing.

Static model in a shopping window

Life on the standing track

I haven't planned any photographic projects yet. It's just too early to plan. At the moment I'm available for photo projects, but none are currently being requested or planned.

My own photo stories require special locations. Since I cannot travel, these things will have to wait. In the summer I may be able to start again with small projects outside in the Frankfurt area, in case I find any suitable models.

I don't see my planned road trip to Ibiza happening this year. Everything is simply too uncertain, planning is too costly and risky.

When I do shootings, for example commissioned work, I wear an FFP2 mask during the entire shoot. A quick corona test is carried out immediately before the shoot, too. Fortunately, this is very easy to do in many places in Frankfurt these days starting at 25 €.

I am also trying to get a hold of a few packs of Corona quick tests for self-testing, so everyone can do a test on set before we shoot. As I fear, 2021 to become a difficult year again, testing — even if you feel healthy — might be a step in the right direction.

Anything but normal

However, these times are anything but normal. And I long to go back to the old normal. In the newspapers some people wrote, they can see light at the end of the tunnel. I don't see any light yet, though. But I will stay strong. Let's hope for the best.

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