Scenes from Quarantine
A student’s photographic look-back at the weirdest summer break in recent times.
For me, in small-town Ontario, it was a foreboding presence off in the distance. For many communities around the world, it was, and still is, the enemy at the gates, with their streets as the battleground.
So how did the lockdown affect me? In short: not much. For me, in small-town Ontario, it was a foreboding presence off in the distance. For many communities around the world, it was and still is the enemy at the gates, with their streets as the battleground. The travel restrictions did, however, shake up my plans, but it forced me to take a second look at the beautiful places within my own backyard and appreciate my time spent with friends even more.
These are fairly ordinary moments taken during a most extraordinary time. They aren’t perfect, documentary-like images, but are instead the results of my progression through a summer lost.
The Beginning
The whole scale of the pandemic still hadn’t sunk in yet; we were still speculating. My friends and I would debate whether our school would close down and the students sent home. One week later, things got worse and we got the boot. My summer break began early — in March.
Home Sweet Home
I had initially planned on going to Thailand, but as the pandemic progressed I lined up a job in Montreal. It didn’t pan out. I thought that Montreal would be far enough from both the virus and Southern Ontario corn country. Chatham-Kent, Ontario, however, is neither.
A Cabin Trip
I’ve always had my sights set on faraway destinations, but with travel restrictions in place, I had to rediscover Ontario.
The End of Summer
Overall, I feel like this isn’t the summer that I wanted, but maybe it was what I needed. It forced me to look inwards. I learned that I couldn’t just focus on the huge trips and the Instagrammable moments — those moments were mostly gone. Instead, I had to enjoy the quietness and the time spent alone. And when you’re stuck in your room, 80 hours into your 3rd playthrough of The Witcher 3, you learn to appreciate your friendships.
As we near the end of the summer, we enter into a dramatically changed school year and, more importantly — a new normal. But we have all changed as well. The pictures I took and the memories that I rediscover are starting to change my perspective of this summer, my hometown, and my province, just as many people are discovering new hobbies, interests, during quarantine. Even those pictures of Erieau, a fairly ordinary beach outing, look fresh and striking to me. It might just change my perspective on small-town Ontario, just maybe.
But as of right now, I never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m done with the summer. Bring on the Zoom calls.
All photos shown were taken by Daniel Bala.
