So... You've Been Quarantined
Staying Sane with Creativity:
8 Resources to get you through the Pandemic
Written by Katt Janson Merilo
These are interesting times. If you are like most people right now, you may have suddenly and unexpectedly found yourself at home with a lot of time on your hands and nowhere to go. Isolation can be challenging and now more than ever, it’s important to look after mental as well as physical health. An excellent way to continue self care during a mandatory stay at home order is through creativity. Perhaps you’re a seasoned film expert who has run out of E6 to process, or perhaps you’re a novice who is here because you finally have the time to look into the hobby of photography you’ve always wondered about. No matter who you are or what you need to keep yourself busy, we’ve put together a list of eight resources that we hope will help stimulate your creativity and keep your mind busy during this time of international uncertainty.
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam via Google Arts & Culture
RESOURCE 1: Online art museum tours
Did you know you could tour the halls of the Getty in LA from your couch in Warsaw? The J. Paul Getty Museum is just one of many that offers virtual tours, Google Street-view style, and you don’t even need to put on pants to see any of it. Click here to check out their current online collections.
Other art museums offering similar virtual experiences include:
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
RESOURCE 2: Check out our favorite film podcasts
We love a good podcast: they provide perfect background audio while we develop and process our latest projects, or make housekeeping a little bit more palatable. Here are some of our favorite film photography related podcasts for your listening pleasure. Links are to show pages when possible, and many can be found on most podcasting apps or are available to stream online; taglines are by the podcast creators.
Film Photography Podcast - An Internet Radio Show & On-Line Resource for Film Shooters Worldwide
Analog Talk - Christine Bartolucci and Timothy Ditzler talk about film photography
The Sunny 16 Podcast - A show all about our love of the magical thing that is analog photography, from cameras to film, pinholes to point and shoots, and most importantly, to the people who create amazing art with them.
Classic Camera Revival - discussing cameras, lenses, film, chemistry, and using film in the 21st century
Photography Matters - A Podcast for Photographers
Lenswork Podcast - Photography and the Creative Process
Nancy gets ready to teach some darkroom tips
RESOURCE 3: Learn a new skill
There is a plethora of online material to help you learn nearly any possible photography trick you could want to learn. We at Blue Moon Camera have put together a few resources in the past that walk readers through some film and camera basics. Check out our Codex Technical section for all our articles offering How-Tos and Reviews, but here are a few that we think you might enjoy:
Also, check out the Beginner’s Guide to Film Photography: a free downloadable PDF from Analog.Cafe.
And here are some great how-to video channels that we’ve found for free, just strolling through YouTube.
Skill levels: Intermediate to Advanced
Kelly-Shane Fuller’s Go Everywhere series of how to videos: For creative alternative developing tips and mind blowing instructions on how to jerry rig your pinhole camera to play Pink Floyd records on your Bluetooth player (we assume), we suggest you check this channel out.
Skill levels: Beginner to Intermediate
Jess Hobbs: Camera reviews, well-produced video blog, and some cool developing tips from someone who loves getting out and about with a camera. You’re sure to learn something new and be inspired.
Lily Schwartz: Tips on shooting styles, developing, how to use certain equipment, and even some photographers worth knowing interviews. Check her out!
The Art of Photography: Digital editing tips, technical info, photographer features, artistic tips, and more - oh my!
As with all our other sections, comment below or visit our Facebook group (more on that later) if you have a favorite information resource to share!
Images from our Customer Show ready to hang
RESOURCE 4: Discover new artists
As you will know if you’ve had the chance to join us on one of our Customer Show nights, there are few things we love more than sharing new artists with the world. We have already compiled several Galleries on our website, including those specifically for our Staff and our previous Customer Shows. Whether you’ve seen the shows a dozen times or you’ve never checked them out, they’re well worth browsing through. We have twelve of them online so if you browse a show a day that’s almost 2 weeks of photo viewing fun!
Also, dig out those photography journals you’ve been hoarding for years and take another look through them. Check out photography journals and collectives with online galleries. Here are a few of our favorites:
Diffusion Annual - Digital downloads of back issues are currently free! Thanks, Diffusion!
She Shoots Film - Many featured articles available online for free
Lenswork Magazine - Offers downloadable issues for sale
Film Shooters Collective - Online community and galleries of a wide range of film photographers
Need more new artists? Go through Flickr or the film tags on Instagram and find some new people to follow and feel inspiration from. You never know what inspiration you can discover. Feel free to share your favorite unknown artist in the comments or at our Facebook group.
RESOURCE 5: Hey, speaking of our Facebook group! Join an online community
Staying socially in touch with others now is more difficult, but no less important for one’s mental wellbeing. More on caring for your mental health later - for now, let’s talk about finding your temporary (or new permanent!) online tribe. Flickr has a whole host of groups to join, and many others find camaraderie in Facebook groups. As a matter of fact, did you know that Blue Moon has its own Facebook group, hosted out of its Facebook page? Managed by us and filled with our friends, staff, fans, and customers: this is the group you’ve been searching for. Check it out here and join the conversation.
Here are some Flickr groups geared towards sharing film photography that you may also enjoy:
Blue Moon Camera group - oh hey, we have one of these, too!
The Art of Photography group - related to the Art of Photography channel shared above
The Film Photography Podcast group - related to the FPP Podcast shared above
(Cutting Remarks by Darren Hanlon) Picking up a local artist’s zine is one of many ways to support artists now
RESOURCE 6: Do some good and support your local artists and small businesses
Artists and small businesses like film labs, independent camera stores, and hobby shops are in uncertain times right now. If you’re in a financially stable place, check the websites of your favorite local shops and see if they deliver materials for online orders, or allow for curbside pick up.
Check your local artist collectives for support funds to help those whose access to art fairs, shops, and street selling have been cut off, taking their income with it. Visit your favorite artists’ Etsy, Society6, and other online shops and order some art (with the understanding that it might take some time to be delivered). Portland area artists: if your livelihood has been affected by current circumstances, or if you would like to help donate to Portland artists, visit www.pdxartistrelief.com for an application process to a fund that may offer some relief.
While we’re talking about supporting small business, know that if you’re in the mood to add some film or even a new camera to your collection, you can still browse our full inventory and order essentials online. Our online inventory just got a big makeover, is user-friendly, and is updated in real time. If you see it listed, it’s available in our shop front. Film for processing can still be mailed in and received by our lab techs. If you’re local, we ask you don’t come in the shop but our front-door film drop slot is open all day. Maybe just give us a wave from the safety of the other side of our shop floor windows as you drop off. We will mail your processing to you as soon as we’re able (our deadlines are more guidelines right now - thanks for your patience). For more updates on our store status, keep on eye on our home page, Facebook, as well as this announcement page.
Thoughts through Faulkner Short’s mind, from our Artists in Solitude series
RESOURCE 7: Remember that some artists seek isolation
Let’s preface this by saying that we are by no means trying to say that current circumstances are ideal in any way, or that this is something any of us would have chosen. Isolation because of a pandemic that leaves you and/or loved ones at risk of a dangerous illness is not by any means the same as driving yourself to a quiet cabin in the woods for some creative time. In the latter, the only risks to your safety are overly curious raccoons or escapees from a B horror film. But remembering back to previous times when you’ve either enjoyed quietude in the harnessing of creativity, or when you’ve craved some time away so you could focus on your projects, may help put you in a mental state where you’re ready to receive the time at home with an open and creatively ready mind.
We’ve actually previously sent 4 of our staff members to a cabin in the woods for some creative isolation, and all wrote about it for our Codex blog. We promise only two of them experienced axe murderer encounters, and both survived (the raccoon encounter, though, was a close one). Here are some of their thoughts after the experience that may speak to you now, as well as links to their full articles if you’d like to read more (which to be honest, we know you probably have the time):
Photos by Faulkner Short
“I ripped a ten foot section of butcher paper from the dispenser in the kitchen and put it on the dining room table for a work space. 15 minutes later, the contents of my poor Honda covered every surface. Boxes of photos, light table, typewriter, scanner, lps and food. I felt overwhelmed and didn't know where to start.”
Photos by Sarah Graves
“I absorb things around me, sometimes too much and sometimes I have trouble holding onto my own self. I take on the feelings, thoughts, influences of those around me and I constantly have to keep them from becoming a part of me or attaching to me in some way. Being in solitude helps restore, it allows me to build back up my energy and my thoughts, my sense of self. It makes me strong again so that I can give of myself again. I can feel myself starting to fill up inside to expand into the space around me, to fill the expanse of the entire house until it can’t contain me.”
Photo by Sophia Diaz
“at the house, there was no one there to pull me back out of myself. i just went deeper. trying, more and more, to trust. to give myself permission to extend into these new mediums. to willingly present this flaying open of my hyper-guarded self. to expand within the discomfort of prose, the vulnerability of large format photography. alone in the space, i wanted to drag myself out to the edge of what i felt i knew, and hurl myself over it.”
Photo by Molly Strohl
“A wave of defeat fell over me. This was the one thing I was most afraid of happening. That my time here was wasted and I would come out with nothing to show. Despite everyone telling me, “Even if you don't make a single finished piece it doesn't mean the time was wasted.” I still felt like a total failure. I allowed myself to wallow in that self pity for about twenty minutes before I threw everything I'd been working on aside, and picked up my sketchbook once again.”
And now that we’ve got you thinking about creating in an isolated space...
Photo by David Paulin
RESOURCE 8: Harness your own creativity
In times of hardship, people turn to art and creative expression. Not only is it a way to pass the time, but creativity is actually good for your mental health. BT Hannemann, a Swiss Gerontology expert, found in a study on art therapy in a nursing home setting that “creative activity has been shown to reduce depression and isolation, offering the power of choice and decisions,” (Hannemann, 2006). Yes, we’re citing sources. We’ve had some extra time on our hands for some light reading lately. We found even more evidence of the benefits of creativity on the mind, but we won’t force academia and scientific research on your light hearted internet read - so you can check out some of the articles we found here and here and here and here (that last one’s a personal favorite: The daily digital practice as a form of self-care: Using photography for everyday well-being), in case you’re interested.
But basically here’s our take-away: we as individuals are all ultimately out of control of what this situation will bring Us. Us, as individuals, Us, as families, Us, as nations, Us, as a human race. There are aspects that we as individuals can control - like limiting our interactions with other people - but many factors in our lives are out of our control right now. And that’s scary. Whether you’ve lived with similar feelings of lost control your whole life or this is the first time you’ve ever been told “no” to wanting to walk out the door and do something, we’re not here to judge you. But we are here to help remind you that you can control the things you create.
You can make things that lessen the monotony in your day or ease the load of your uncertainty for an hour, or a thirtieth of a second. And then you could share it with others and socialize about art, further expanding your ability to engage creatively, or you can keep it to yourself. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is you exercise that creative muscle.
Don’t be discouraged by a cluttered mind - we are all there with you. Practice some yoga or do a quick mediation, then create.
Don’t be discouraged by a familiar, “uninteresting” setting - you’re doing this to keep yourself sane, hang what others think of it, now go and create.
But if you do still worry about creating photographs that are interesting to others, remind yourself that what is familiar and uninteresting to you is unfamiliar to others. That crack in your kitchen floor you’ve been staring at for years and are sick of looking at? Sounds intriguing; show it to us. The same patch of sidewalk under the tree you’ve trimmed for a decade? We bet you know the perfect time to capture light filtering in off those tree’s leaves as it falls, mottled and tinted, to the cement.
Some of the most effective photographers of our time create(d) powerful images of things that might have seemed mundane to them, but their familiarity with the scenes translated powerfully into intimate and rich photographs. Photograph like you’ve never seen it before, because no one else has seen it the way that you have.
Because that’s the real joy of sharing and enjoying photography: it allows you to step out of where you are and the places you know and instead enjoy the places you’ve never before seen, or never seen in just that particular way. Right now, we’ll take any trip out that we can get, even if it’s just through one still moment in time. Together, we help one another get out into the world at a time when we might not be able to venture past our doorsteps. And so go and create.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Good luck and be well.
Your friendly neighborhood camera store, Blue Moon Camera and Machine