How covid-19 is affecting me

We can all agree that COVID-19 has had a huge impact on many of us. Many lost their jobs, businesses have a hard time to remain open, especially the hospitality industry is taking a huge hit. As for freelancers, depending on the field you work in, it can be difficult as well. For me, as a photographer, all my projects got canceled or were put on hold. I'm lucky to live in the Netherlands, where the government is able to give a little bit of financial support to anyone who is affected by this crisis.

My mind went numb

The first days/weeks when the coronavirus-news made its way to the Netherlands, I was eager to think of ideas that would help me to make money. The more I thought about it, the more it sickened me at the same time. Exploiting a crisis to make money? To make money while it is needed elsewhere? I see so many freelancers trying so hard to make money off the crisis. An e-Book here, training there, online workshop over there. In my opinion, it is mostly stuff you don't really need in times like these. So I don't know why, but I'm trying to refrain myself from "abusing the situation" as it feels as if it is against my principles. I question myself why I believe it is abusive in the first place... if someone can help me to explain why it isn't, please, go for it. Sometimes, I guess I need to be reminded that I need food as well (super stubborn).

So, what I did was... stop thinking about ideas and solutions, observe what is going on, and see how the matter evolved. Of course, I have to keep on working, whether it be for a client or for my own strategy. The thing is, when I'm empty, I really am not, there is too much to process and I am left with loose ends where I can't attach all the ideas together. I can basically not stop thinking as I trained my brain like that. Malfunctioning hardcore resolves in a hard-reset, whereas the start-up is super slow.

I have so many drafts open that I couldn't finish. Contests and challenges made by @theycallmedan, @anomadsoul, and @derangedvisions for example. So maybe, I can put it all in one, even though the dates are way overdue.

A great opportunity to pick-up old stuff I used to do a lot (and enjoy)

Because I kinda was forced to adjust my planning for the upcoming months (I go hard when anything that is planned is changed by force), there was enough room and time to pick-up stuff I enjoy doing as long as it wasn't photography. The little kid in me is but-hurt if it reminds me of stuff I can't repel easily. Anyway! I made some stuff for OCD, I made a gif for the promotion of HIVE and @anomadsoul asked me to do some animations for his onboarding project (I'll post that later since it hasn't been released yet).

I think that it is nice to be able to create assets that can help the future of Hive. A social media platform that is immutable is breaching the ceiling where all traditional social media platforms are now facing huge down slack of user. Everything before a blockchain like this feels like repetition, and repetition is key to self-destruct a concept. With the SMT's coming up, the communities, the possibilities are insane. Newspapers that can create a community, where users can decide to subscribe. Businesses can create community pages where their followers can sign up to the blog posts. It does need polishment, and perhaps more options as community managers would be great.

Spending some time doing stuff around the house

During the first weeks or so, it was a good time to do some chores in the house. The weather was so nice, that my roommate had the idea to do some stuff in the garden as well. We aren't professionals, but we upgraded the terrace/fireplace/bar in the backyard. It was nice to do some physical work for once. Clearly I'm not used to that anymore and I should do that more often.

We could pick up these bricks for free, which makes it even more awesome (typical Dutch :D).

Growing some vegetables and do stock photography

Moving from physical work to growing some vegetables and creating stock photography while we at it. Unfortunately, the above photographs were declined because they are not in focus (okay :D), but the photograph below was approved, while I question if that one was in focus or not 🤷. Oh well, I'm regrowing some Napa cabbage, Boychuk a leek and the mint that I grew last year is still alive after a harsh winter.

After having them for a couple of days in water, I now have placed them in the soil. To my surprise, the leek which had no roots, in the beginning, is developing roots in the soil. Pretty amazing to see this stuff from up-close. We usually don't think about stuff like this, we just go to the grocery store and buy our shit.

Now that I try to avoid going to the grocery store because of the Corona measures (I try to keep away from people as much as possible (LOL... nothing changed there, except canceled projects and stuff)), I ordered my food online and had it delivered. Last year, I thought it was cool to try out some home gardening, and at times like these, I'm surprised how it is even possible that we don't know how to grow stuff ourselves. Luckily, I received some tips from @trucklife-family and @kotturinn (I still have to tell them my chili plant died without dropping any fruits, but let's keep that a secret).

What's next?

Last week, I had a small project which I will share with you later, other than that we have a birthday to celebrate this week (do you know whose birthday we are celebrating @lackofcolor?). Even though it may seem I am not active with posting, I am around and am open for business if a project or community needs my expertise. As for content, now that some of us are home much more often than usual, what kind of content do you wish to see from me other than my work? Would you like to know how some of my technical shots were done and learn about it? Do you want me to brutally give critique on your photographs? Some ideas floating around, but can't make up my mind. Perhaps you can push me to make it happen.

Cheers,
Ruben