It has been over 130 days of locked down in my home country of Panama. The situation is not easy for many Panamanians as the rate of contagion and deaths increases daily, an economy on intensive care, and the promotion of enforced restrictions by the government have gained no popularity. Our medical force is exhausted, and the pressure for many families to leave home and make ends meet means help is not enough, further increasing the odds for more contagion among citizens. As a country, we lost grip on control long ago, we hope to recover it again.

This is my opinion on the state of affairs in my country. I shall not complain on my current situation for me and my family are healthy, me and my wife both keep our jobs, and my sons can still pursue remote school learning. It life lived differently, the new normal. We have been blessed and we try to do our part to help others.

But by no means this is easy on my practice of photography. I never expected to have a passion for something cut off so suddenly, with no clear end in sight, and probably even when the day arrives for people to start roaming the city, surely some restrictions will still apply to the practice of street photography. I have realized throughout the course of the quarantine how important photography was to me, as a way to manage the stress of work, the troubles of life, or simply a way to find a zone of pure "focus".

Perhaps I am not the only one with these feelings. Perhaps there are more people coping with this emptiness in creative fun ways. I think I have found some, and I'd like to share them with you:

1. If you can afford it, invest in photo books from the great masters of photography. Personally, I buy them both new and used, I don't care, as long as I can learn from the creative content of these books. I may not leave to the streets, but I train my eyes watching and reading over and over from these books. I have a small collection so far, and I have not regret it: Webb, Leiter, McCurry, Frank, Manos, and a few more.

2. Online workshops with experienced photographers to help you hone your craft, to help you review your work and learn to make order out of chaos of your photo archive and learn the importance of personal projects. A dear mentor, turned friend, Venezuelan photographer Aaron Sosa, now resident in Uruguay provides online classes for those interested in understanding the meaning and process of photography. It has been a blessing in disguise.

3. Zoom parties with fellow hobbyists are a nice way to keep social, despite the distance, and be able to share photos, camera gear talk, and nonsense topics surrounding the subject of photography.

4. Documenting your quarantine days with your favorite camera gear, which I guess is the trending project among many photographers. True, after a while and many shutter clicks later, my kids can become sick of their father taking pictures, but where else can they go :-)

5. Taking time to scan your negatives, if you practice film photography, personally, I have found it to be relaxing, since it helps me to focus on a repetitive process that requires careful handling and attention to details.

6. And one that I think has recently surprised me a lot is to “print your photos”. A couple of months ago my wife gifted me with a Fujifilm mobile printer I intended to use in my future photowalks, but that I found delight printing family pictures and posting them on the fridge. Only then I realized some of that stocked photo paper I have stored somewhere has better use when printing pictures. I have learned so much from the process, even if the pictures cannot find a wall to be hung, just the experience and the emotions I have share with my family with these prints cannot compare to seeing them on the screens of computers, tablets and mobile phones.

I am sure there are more ways to enjoy the art of photography while locked down. Feel free to share some more, not to say than reading magazines, or watching endless youtube videos of new cameras as home entertainment, cannot be considered other ways to learn something new. But most important, stay safe, watch over your family, and practice patience and hope better days are coming. God blessings to everyone.