Sheona O Regan Brady COVID-19 Photo Essay
Item
- Title
- Sheona O Regan Brady COVID-19 Photo Essay
- Subject
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- Description
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In this photo essay I will be showing through photographs my experiences through the covid 19 pandemic, it was such a stressful time for myself and everyone around me the world around us was changing drastically, as much as I tried to distract myself with college and new hobbies the new reality of my life was hard to get used to because it was almost the opposite to what it was before, I had a very social job and an active social life, I went from this to a homebody who doesn’t see anyone and knits for fun.
Image 1 “Life is Beautiful”
I took this image on the 12th of March 2020 of my housemate who is a healthcare worker, I snapped this photo of her sitting on her bed just after arriving home from work as she was showing the PPE, she had to ware all day , I thought the image really illustrated our feelings at this time, terrified but till hopeful. She would get home from work every evening and tell me all about the madness she experienced that day in the hospital, things I just would never see or experience unless I ended up in hospital myself. I remember us discussing this photo when I took it, we were very unsure if we should post it online thinking it might be too jarring or offensive because at the time the situation was so serious and mask waring was so new and foreign.
Image 2 “Whiskas”
I took this image of my cat prince on the 19th of March 2020. At this point in the pandemic I’m sure everyone was worried about not being able to get essentials like toilet roll and food, some even panic buying wine, I heled off on the panic buying until I had the thought that maybe I wouldn’t be able to get cat food for my incredibly fussy cat who would rather starve then eat something she didnt like, I caved and bought an 84 box of Whiskas pouches, safe to say prince was a happy cat.
Image 3 ” #REBELBARTENDERBOX”
I took this image and posted it on my Instagram on the 09th of April 2020, the rebel bartender box was organised to give bartenders in cork who had been laid off from work due to covid 19 a nice treat and a moral boost. This was advertised in the cork bartenders page on Facebook, I had to email in with my name and what bar I worked in to be in with a chance of receiving one, I was delighted that I was able to get one, I picked up my box in the Eddison bar on Washington street in cork city, even just the excuse to get out for a walk was nice and to receive these treats in such an uncertain time for everyone working in hospitality really made a huge difference to my week. I had been working in hospitality for many years and when Covid 19 started to worry me was when customers started asking me was, I worried about the bar shutting down, I think I was trying to ignore it and get on with my work. I was officially laid off on the 15th of March 2020, in the email the owner of the bar I was working at stated “It is anticipated, although not guaranteed, that business will improve in approximately 2 to 3 months’ time” this reassured me somewhat that this was just temporary, little did I know I would never go back.
Image 4 “oh this is getting serious now”.
I took this image in Paul street shopping centre on the 17th of March 2020 while trying to do my food shop for the week in Tesco. When I first walked into the shopping centre, I wasn’t really paying all that much attention and started walking past people towards Tesco, suddenly I realised that that was the que for Tesco and had to embarrassingly walk back and take my place in the que, everyone seemed quite worried aswell as annoyed, I think everyone was having the same thought as me “oh this is getting serious now”.
Image 5 “it’s been a while”
I took this image of my mother outside my grandparents’ house in Rosscarbery west cork on the 24th of July 2020. At this time the restrictions had eased enough that I was able to visit my family in west cork for the first time in quite a while. At this point the vaccine had not be rolled out so to protect everyone masks were worn, and we had a socially distanced cup of tea.
Image 6 “When life gives you lemons”
I took this image on the 23rd September 2020 in cork college of commerce. After loosing my job in hospitality due to covid 19 I decided that now I have been forced to stop working it was perfect timing to do a course and start the ball rolling on getting into university. The course induction was pushed back several times due to the covid 19 situation, when I finally was able to go to induction it was done in cohorts and all the desks were very far apart everyone sat in silence with masks on it was quite jarring.
Image 7 “new hobbies”
took this image on the 16th of October 2020. I’ve always wanted to learn to knit but never got around to it, I used to work such long hours that all my free time was spent either sleeping or socialising, when lockdown happened, I suddenly had all this time I didn’t know what to do with, so I started a college course and I learned to knit, everyone got scarfs for Christmas in 2020.
The covid 19 pandemic affected everyone I know, some more severely than others, seeing the pandemic from the perspective of a healthcare worker helped me to put my own experience into perspective. The pandemic really made me appreciate the little things like the kind gift of the bartenders’ box and learning new skills that I never had time for pre covid. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to do a one-year course that I used to apply to UCC I’m now a full-time student still experiencing covid nearly in 2022,things are still changing to this day and I don’t know if or when this will be over but all I know is I’m not the same person I was before Covid 19. - Creator
- Sheona O Regan Brady
- Date
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March 2020 - April 2021
- Rights
- Cork Folklore Project
- Publisher
- Cork Folklore Project
- Item sets
- Photo Essays
