Life of a photographer during the coronavirus in China

Despite the coronavirus pandemic that hit China and subsequently the whole world. This spring 2020 we continued filming and teaching photography in southern China

At the beginning of the year, they refused the offer of Russian television to go to Wuhan for filming, since the city was closed at the end of January 2020. However, they continued to live an active life, traveling to Macau and filming the empty city of Zhuhai at this historical moment.

It was surprising to see the lack of people in the city's most popular places. It was interesting for us to explore everything, and the air turned out to be so clean when the factories were not working. 

Also, Channel One’s proposal to film a video interview with a family sick with coronavirus in the infectious diseases department of Guangzhou did not take place. We negotiated with hospital staff. They spoke politely and asked us for additional permission to film. We were thinking about the equipment we would wear for filming. However, as we understand, the staff was not interested in letting foreign media in, and still spoke in a civilized manner. Thus, we did not have to risk our health and sit in strict quarantine.

We decided not to leave the country when it all started. Now we feel that this decision was the right one. Because the corona virus eventually spread to the whole world, and returning home to China would seem difficult or impossible. In addition, I would like to avoid quarantine in my homeland. 

And no matter how absurd it may sound, here in China we feel much calmer. Everyone put on masks together, there is no panic, people talk politely, there is all the goods in the stores, including toilet paper :) Taobao delivery works smoothly.

On the one hand, it is unpleasant to be at the epicenter of a virus. The flow of customers dropped sharply and pre-planned orders did not take place. However, there are also positive aspects: we now have a lot of time to edit the accumulated photo and video material, develop and fill the site, and learn new shooting and editing techniques. And just communication with family and friends. We began to post more on Chinese social networks and the number of subscribers began to grow. By the way, yes, on a larger scale, online entertainment and news have benefited from this crisis.

And in the spring, it seems that life in the south of China is in full swing. However, due to the spread of the virus in the world. There has been a lot of information in the Chinese media about new imported cases of infection. That’s why now they treat us foreigners with caution, they don’t sit in the elevator together, and sometimes they don’t let us into public places. Many places require scanning a QR code to enter, which is only available to those with a 身份证 Chinese ID. People with a passport are not considered. If you need to change housing, not all gardens allow foreigners to move in. Truth be told, some Chinese feel responsible for the fact that we, as their guests, ended up in the country during a period of viral infection. For example, the landlady of our apartment kindly agreed to exempt us from paying monthly rent in February, but no longer in March. All because the government issued an order encouraging them to do this. But this was not an order, but a personal decision.

We'll see how the situation develops further. In the meantime, we are optimistic. We follow all protective measures: wear masks, wash our hands and disinfect.

This quarantine has taught us a lot. We are determined to continue to stay in China and continue working as photographers. We hope that we will soon be able to return to our usual rhythm. Health to everyone! 
 
About what to do during quarantine in the next article