Working from home
We asked a few contributors how their lives have changed in recent months, and how they’ve been adjusting to life indoors.
Although the phrase “unprecedented times” has started to lose its meaning a little, there’s no denying that our lives look a lot different than they did a few months ago.
And on Unsplash, it’s been clear that we’ve all been trying to communicate our current reality through the images we share with the community. From photographs of social distancing measures at the pharmacy, to boarded up windows of the shutdown shops around your neighbourhood.
We’ve also been seeing these shifts in our daily life, with more photos being taken inside the home. Whether it’s your new makeshift office set up, your kids making a mess of your living room while you try to work, or your dog becoming your newest colleague.
So we decided to ask a few contributors and members of the Unsplash team how their lives have changed in recent months, and how they’ve been adjusting. Here’s what long-time contributors Claudio Schwarz and Priscilla Du Preez had to say.
Claudio Schwarz
Thoughts on working from home
What do you do for work? Has it been more difficult to do at home?
I am a frontend developer focused on the visual part of the frontend. We do annual reports which is more of a niche thing.
Is working from home new to you?
The idea of working remotely is not new to me — but there’s a big difference between working from home once a week to exclusively working from home every day.
How has your routine changed?
No, not at all. I stand up, have a shower, brush my teeth and dress myself for work.
Have you picked up a new hobby or interest?
Maybe going out for longer walks (not hikes).
How do you separate work life from home life now that you can’t leave the house?
I do the same thing as when I was going into the office. I shut down the computer and leave the desk. I think that’s important. As important as dressing yourself as if you were going to your office to work.
Where do you work in your home?
From my desk. Which is in front of my bed.
Do you live alone or is your family/partner working from home as well? How is that going?
I live alone. I only have contact (but with physical distance) to my parents, and I haven’t seen my friends for three weeks. We recently had dinner together via a WhatsApp video call. But it’s not the same. I really miss the personal contact with friends or co-workers. But what I miss the most is photography.
Have you been getting more or less work done, on the whole?
For me it’s the same. Every time someone stopped by my desk to have a chat has now been replaced with a quick call.
Have you enjoyed any aspects of working from home so far?
I’m spending a lot less money, which helps me save it for later.
Will you be willing to travel again? If so, how soon and where?
I think I’ll have a travel outside of Switzerland at least in summer 2021, not before. And in 2020 I’d like to travel in Switzerland to support our own economy.
On photography
What’s your setup? (Lens, camera, editing tools)
- Cameras (Sony α7R III, Sony α9 for sports)
- Lenses (12–24mm ƒ4, 24–70mm ƒ2.8, 24–105mm ƒ4, 70–200mm ƒ2.8, 24mm ƒ1.4, 35mm ƒ1.4, 35mm ƒ2.8, 50mm ƒ1.4, 85mm ƒ1.4)
- Photo Mechanic for fast choosing and adding EXIF data
- Lightroom for editing my photos (before importing, I convert them to .dng with the Adobe DNG converter, because Lightroom can handle this file format faster)
- 1 TB Samsung T5 (with the images of the current year)
- 12 TB NAS from Synology (where the images from 2012 to 2019 store, one Lightroom library each year)
Are you trying something new? (Aesthetic, style, camera lens…)
For the first time I took indoor pictures of my flat which is a very new experience for me.
Are you still able to do do client work or are you working on personal work?
Actually I do both of them.
If you could photograph anything/any person right now, what/who would it be?
The empty streets of NYC.
Dream camera?
Got it already. Dream lens is the 400mm f2.8.
Have you seen any work that has inspired you recently?
I’ve seen a lot of great work by Chris Henry, Logan Weaver, Willian Justen de Vasconcellos or Markus Spiske. All of them have very impressive photos. I also adore the images of Annie Spratt, and watch her processing her analog images via Instagram stories. And I envy Nina Mercado for her ability to take pictures/portraits of people. That’s something I wanna get better at.
Any advice for other photographers?
Carry your camera around with you every day. After work go out and take pictures. After the whole corona thing is over of course.
Quickfire Round:
- Pyjamas or Jeans? Jeans
- Music or Silence? Music
- Desk or Bed? Desk
- Breakfast or Dinner/Supper? Dinner
- Digital or Analog? Digital
- Portrait or Landscape? Landscape
- Socks, Bare-feet or Slippers? Socks
- Phone call or Video chat? Audio chat?
- Book or Netflix? Netflix
Priscilla Du Preez
Thoughts on working from home
What do you do for work? Has it been more difficult to do at home?
I’m grateful to have a job right now and I absolutely love it. Despite graduating from university as a high school Japanese teacher, I went from the front of the classroom to work behind-the-scenes in post-secondary admissions. I work in the Admission Data Services department at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. My job is 92% processing hundreds of new applications and transcripts, 5% drinking coffee and 3% being terrorized by the campus geese, so you could say working from home has been a lot less traumatic.
Is working from home new to you?
Yes! It was a really difficult lifestyle to adjust to at first, because there’s the constant whisper from the fridge (feed, human… time for another snack) and the cat is constantly irritated by my presence. The morning Zoom meetings are a good reminder that human life still exists outside our home. Luckily, my team enjoys it when I bring my cat to our very important meetings.
How has your routine changed?
Surprisingly enough, I’ve become one of those annoying people who gets up and works out. I’ve been saying it for years, “I’m going to get up early and go for a run”, and EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. I would snooze my alarm. But because I can literally show up to work as a hot and sweaty mess, it’s been a really easy routine to get into.
Have you picked up a new hobby or interest?
Yes! Reading! I’m a type nine on the Enneagram, and according to my number, I’m the kind of person who goes years without reading a single book but will suddenly start reading more than anyone you know. I’m currently reading The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman, and diving deeper into the biography of JC (re-reading the New Testament of the Bible). And as an avid tattoo enthusiast, I’ve started drawing again. I’m currently dappling in a study on American Traditional tattoo art.
How do you separate work life from home life now that you can’t leave the house?
I really just have to close my laptop at the end of the day, turn off my work brain, and then I’m magically in the living room.
Where do you work in your home?
At first I was working on the couch, then on the bed, but that was destroying my posture and I was vulnerable to spontaneous napping, so I cleared off our junk-ridden old desk and made it my work station. It’s right beside my cat’s favourite chair though, and he snores a lot. Like a congested old codger. I may need to relocate soon.
Do you live alone or is your family/partner working from home as well? How is that going?
My husband is taking an online class right now, so I get to learn a lot about music theory and theology without having to take the exams. Win-win! He’s also our church’s music & worship director, and I get to be serenaded by his beautiful voice and music all day long as he prepares for Sunday (online) services. My husband and I are newly married (going on three years this May), and we’re still honeymooning. Enough said. : )
Have you been getting more or less work done, on the whole?
Regarding housework, the home is a hundred times cleaner. Work hasn’t been as productive, simply because I left my second monitor at the office and I can’t go in to retrieve it. Second monitors are game-changers, but I’m doing the best with what I have.
Have you enjoyed any aspects of working from home so far?
I must admit, I really miss the team I work with. We’re a small group of coffee-loving, data nerds who all get along really well, and it’s nice to chat about different issues as they come up, but now I just send an email and wait for a response. Sometimes my co-worker will text me a picture of her dog, or send a quality meme. I miss the view from my office window: the cherry blossoms, three fountains in a lake and an erratic squirrel that terrorizes the campus geese. But I’ve absolutely adored and appreciated all the time I get to spend with my husband. And it’s been very interesting watching my cat live his best life all day long.
What are you most looking forward to outside of confinement?
Despite my adoration of the introvert life, I miss our community. My husband and I are normally busy with our school and church community, and I’ve come to truly realize that we weren’t made to do life on our own. We need each other. We need to put down our phones and engage in real conversation. Real moments. Love our neighbours. Give people hugs. Help the elderly. Help those in need. Call our parents. Pursue purpose, not wealth. Support local businesses. Take care of our mental health. Repair broken relationships. Speak wisdom into younger generations. Oh, and I really want a craft beer and fried chicken sandwich from our favourite local brewery. Technology has been a real blessing in this time, and I think the pandemic has given all of us a new perspective of what really matters in this one life we have.
On photography:
What’s your setup? (Lens, camera, editing tools)
Currently I’m rocking an elderly Canon 6D with over 300k shutter count… but looking at replacing it soon. Not sure if I want to go mirrorless yet though. My lens of choice is the 85mm/ƒ1.4 prime for events, and 50mm/ƒ1.4 prime for everything else. I edit in Bridge and Lightroom. Bridge is a powerful file organizing and editing tool for any of you who have Adobe Creative Cloud — I highly recommend.
Are you trying something new? (Aesthetic, style, camera lens…)
I’m trying a new technique of shooting to develop my own “look” that makes my photos stand out from the rest on Unsplash. Heck, there are so many incredible images on Unsplash that it’s becoming increasingly harder to stand out, but I really like to shoot a moody, dark vibe that reflects my inner melancholy. I’m working harder now to just be myself, rather than trying to copy other artists. Let’s be honest, it’s really hard to create something that hasn’t been done before! If you see me walking around with a giant shard of glass, don’t panic, I’m just experimenting with my style.
Are you still able to do client work or are you working on personal work?
Yes! I actually took a hiatus from all client work in 2019 just to focus on my mental health and to re-discover my true self again. I found that the moment I was creating for money, I lost all passion and creativity, and was becoming increasingly more stressed and depressed each time I did a shoot. 2019 was a really dark time in my life, but one I had to go through it to get to the joyful, confident place that I am now. I’ve abandoned the pursuit of money, and although I always want new things and more tattoos, I’m trying to be content with what I have and can afford. I am slowly letting myself create for clients again, but for little or no pay. If I can use my gifts to bless others joyfully without wanting anything in return, then I’ve found my purpose in life.
If you could photograph anything/any person right now, what/who would it be?
Oh my gosh, anything noteworthy and mentionable. Castles in Europe. Or anything in Iceland. I confess, I struggle HARD with landscape photography, but if I could grasp this genre, I would love to explore the world and shoot old Victorian houses, crumbling castles and that old rusty airplane that lies somewhere in Iceland. I would also love to be able to shoot locals in their natural environment, like sherpas in the Himalayas or something like that. I was incredibly inspired by the movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, can you tell?
Dream camera?
I don’t have a dream camera right now, but I really want the Sigma 1.4 Art lens. So, a body that fits that bad boy is dreamy enough for me.
Have you seen any work that has inspired you recently?
Yes! You just have to click on my “Likes” section on Unsplash. Seriously, so many people inspire me on Unsplash, like Kelly Sikkema, Annie Spratt and Hello Revival. Although I’ve been uploading more moody, dark images, I’m really into airy and light still life right now, and images that are shot from above that create a delicate image, like a spread of flowers. Those kinds of images are great for projects and phone wallpapers.
Any advice for other photographers?
Regarding stock photography, seek purpose in your work. Ask yourself, why am I taking this photo? Does the internet need another photo of a ______? And, it’s been said time and time again but don’t let comparison steal your joy for photography. If you’ve been in my place, spiraling down an anxious path of self-criticism, muttering things like, “If I were only as good as…”, and scrolling through social media and being disheartened by seeing everyone else’s work, then it’s time to take a break and find yourself again. If you can’t genuinely be proud of your work and celebrate the accomplishments of others, then you might need to pull yourself out for a little bit. I found it helpful to go out in the field and shoot without any expectations, and I was creating better work than when I had to go out and shoot a certain image or style. You have your own unique gifts, so recognize and exploit them! And even if your gift is photography, your gifts also stretch beyond the lens.
Quickfire Round:
- Pyjamas or Jeans? Yoga pants
- Spotify or Silence? Spotify at home/work, silence on long, solo drives
- Desk or Bed? Bed
- Breakfast or Dinner/Supper? Brunchhhhh
- Digital or Analog? Digital
- Portrait or Landscape? Portrait
- Socks, Bare-feet or Slippers? Bare-feet
- Phone call or Video chat? Ooof… don’t even bother. Just text me, and give me a week to reply.
- Book or Netflix? Ajkdsahkd BOTH.
