It's the Small Things that Matter - Macro Photography

Wednesday Thoughts

Earth Day

Earth day came and went while most of the US were under some sort of “shelter in place” order. I remember last year they closed off parts of Broadway and had a bunch of sustainable groups that gave out freebies, or had you sign up for various things. I think the same part of Broadway is closed today, but for very different reasons. It’s nice to have a day that celebrates the marvels of this earth, but I of course like to marvel about our earth every day.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Documenting the smaller things on earth

Ever since I moved from Alaska my camera has been getting less and less attention. By now it is a bit outdated and I have been thinking that I should get a new one for several years now, just like I have been thinking that I should get a tattoo. None of that has happened, yet. At one point I got really into macro photography, because there is no better way to see natures magical world than to drop down on your knees and get close to the tiniest parts of this ecosystem. I am the type of person that will do just that and don’t think about the consequences, i.e dirty knees, until afterwards. I can easily get sucked in to the details, maybe that is why I am a lab manager.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Now when I look through all my photos I want to get back, back into photography again, but the lack of the nature I want to depict is nowhere to be found in this urban place. There are details here too of course, just not so obvious, or maybe that is the whole point. You have to search for it and train your eye for a different environment. Either way, one can dream about the nature that used to surround me at least.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

When all of this is over - A day in New York

“Hey, tonight if you think about it
Remembering all the times that you pointed out
Say, the glass is clear but all this fear
Starts a-leaving a mark
Your idle hands are all that stands
From your time in the dark
But it’s still alright”

— Nathaniel Rateliff

Wednesday Thoughts on a Thursday

May 7 2020

We are standing by the window that faces the street. The same street that used to have a lot of traffic back in the day, and cars that were constantly honking because it was going to slow. About as slow as we think it’s going inside now. There aren’t that many cars, or buses, that drive by now and even the sirens have stopped. Every now and then I lean my head too much towards the window and my forehead leave marks on the window, that window we cleaned not too long ago. Maybe that is why I constantly bump into it, it’s so clean that I can’t even see it’s there, or is it because I am so curious about what is going on further down the street? It’s Happy Hour and this is where we end up for that now, becuase there isn’t that much else to do. It’s even a sentence we found ourselves saying more than once, Do you want to come and stand by the window with me and see what’s going on out there? This is where we talk about the day that passed, what we accomplished, or didn’t accomplish, and what we read or listened to news wise. But even the news is something we turn off or scroll past if it sounds or looks too heavy. Because who wants to listen to how this America is breaking down right in front of you.

The days go by, very slowly but still fast. It’s already May and we spent all of April in here, or not all but that is what it feels like. We live in an area that some people would describe as “a little rough around the edges” and the atmosphere feels different out there now. I feel the same way I did when we just moved here. I don’t really have anything to complain about, being inside, because I have a job that is willing to pay me working from home. It’s probably not the same for a large number of people around here. If you thought people were struggling before this, just imagine what they do now.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

The other day I spent more than a hour searching for face masks. Not the one that contains cucumber and not the N95 either. Those masks are reserved for the people on the front line, and rightfully so. If you went on Amazon back in March all PPE including hand sanitizer and bleach were reserved for the front line. We had everything we needed back then, but now we need these face masks, the light version. The type of face mask that is sewn by workers who used to make bags or clothes or everything in between. It’s not meant to protect me from the virus, but it’s probably better than nothing as long as it doesn’t get wet. It’s meant to protect others from me if I would ever carry the virus without being sick. Just think about that, we now live in a world where I can say I spend an hour ordering face masks.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

It’s Thursday, and on Thursdays people on the other side of the Atlantic (read Sweden) eat yellow pea soup, and so do we. With pancake. I’ve been thinking a lot about Swedes and Sweden lately. We went there last summer, the first summer in almost ten years and maybe that is why. I don’t really want to live in Sweden because this is where my home is now. But it’s the Swedish songs and artists that are constantly echoing in my head nowadays.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Keep 6 feet Apart in NYC

Wednesday thoughts

A month of “shelter in place”

It has now been more than of month of “shelter in place” here in NYC. It is interesting to see all the different approaches around the world to curb the spread of the virus. It is apparent that we, even now, know so little about it.

Broadway was the first place to shut down, and then the universities. Columbia University started the ramp down about 1 week or so before the shelter in place order came for NYS. In that way we all had time to gather important items at the office. The constant honking we could hear outside the apartment before the outbreak is long gone and has been replaced with the constant sound of sirens. Shelter in place here in NYC have meant that we (me and my husband) go to the store every second week, we take a long walk once a week and the rest of the time we stay at home. Only essential businesses are allowed to be open, and the inequality is clearer than ever. You should, as the term eludes to, try to spend as much time as possible away from other people. NYC has changed, and maybe one of the most drastic changes is the increase in unemployment by 2,637% and MTA subway ridership which has dropped by more than 90%. The NYC will be a very different place when it opens up again, and I am not the only one who thinks that. Last Friday Governor Cuomo ordered everyone to wear a face mask when walking outside if you can’t keep the distance of 6 feet to other people. Still, there are a surprising amount of people who do not follow that order. Many places have had to shut down, and shut down of small businesses is now slowly expanding to larger ones. It will probably take years before NYC fully reopens in the same capacity as we saw before, and it will probably be very different.

Was this the right call?

Even though we learn more and more about the virus every day, my brain switches back and forth about if this shelter in place was a “good” or “bad” decision. When you look at other places, for instance Sweden (since that is where I am from) no one is really practicing any of our precautions on the same level as we are here. And it is not until quite recently they got any guidelines about limiting social gatherings. Even tough the virus came to Sweden before we got it here. But then again, if you look at where we are today, here in NYC, it definitely was the best way to go. We’ve seen refrigerator trucks lined up and waiting to be used on Randall Island, we saw them about a month ago. At that point I guess no one really understood what the top of the iceberg really was. There were a couple of days when more than 500 people died every day, in NYC alone, from the virus. We now know that far more people are dying in their homes, far more than usual, and they are not included in that number. That is why we saw those refrigerator trucks on Randall Island, the hospitals and funeral homes just didn’t have the capacity for all this. Regardless if this in the end is less deadly than the regular flu, you just have to think about these numbers to realize that it is still way worse than the regular flu. Our hospitals were definitely filled over capacity, and it is now clear that the US health system will nee to change drastically. When we were at our worst, in Manhattan alone ~45% tested positive, there were some areas in Brooklyn and Queens where up to 80% tested positive.

The Future

The bigger question here is: When will NYC reopen? And what will that look like? We can’t just open up everything at once again, it will have to be in stages, and no one really know what that looks like in reality. What restaurants, bars, galleries etc. will even be here then? The future of NYC has probably not been this uncertain, ever.