RISK (Group) Photography - Leica + GoPro POV street + urban photography 

Somehow I knew this wasn't a " before bed video". Good that I watched in the morning. The bike photograph was a "wow moment" in the video. Awesome reaction there Lilly!

Thanks for this video! The perspective is so enlightening being from the States and watching our own countries stumbles. You are not alone, we are all connected. Peace and love!!

Restrictions and everything, Lilly, your images are awesome! Well done!

This was a great video. I'm glad you spoke from your perspective and allowed yourself to rant. It's so valuable. I love your use of music and the way you let the footage breathe, if that makes sense.

So happy to see you are staying safe, and being creative through this mess. Loved the music when you go out for your first night shoot, very tense. I feel the same about the lockdowns. If we had only had the will to see it through, we’d all have been better off. Thank you for uploading And letting us know what’s going on. Stay well!

Love the Leica smug face at the begining haha 🤣 I can only imagine how difficult and stressful it is due to your health. I'm relatively healthy person but because of my anxiety I have missed out on many great pictures, I can sympathize somewhat. Hopefully the 'rona' situation will get better soon.

hola. I am enjoying your reflection pics, which are showing how you are feeling. I used Amazon and bought h94 masks from Korea. they have custm fits and adjustable ear loops. I have a compromised immune system and am very careful in where I go and what I do. A lot of sanitizer lotion. I am disabled but plan for avoiding bad things, I do not let it win. All that aside, we deal with life everyday. One of the challenges as a photographer is to "bring home the goods". Creativity is what we live. We find ways to get the shot, and usually that is how we come up with good pics. I have only seen your work for a few months, but can see you have what I call "the eye". The way of seeing a shot where others see nothing. Keep it up. Oh, yes, I like your rig to have the GoPro see what you are seeing. I will come up with something similar, just like all good photogs do. Thank you. Pam

Glad I heard this from you. Unfortunately I do think that the majority of people do not think about those "expendable". Covid opened my eyes about the motivation of humankind.

Hi Lilly, I hear what you said about your mask. I had similar problems with my FFP2-Masks. I recently tried out an FFP3-Mask from 3m (Model "aura 9330+") It fits much, much better than any other mask I've worn so far and it doesn't restrict the airflow as much. If it feels too restrictive regarding breathing: 3m also makes FFP2-Masks with the same mask-form-factor. According to studies it's one of the masks that fits really well and with almost any "face-type". I also don't have any problems with my glasses fogging up since I wear that mask. Hang in there and stay safe!

Lilly, stay safe and know that there are people watching who understand and care. Remember that as you are young you'll have many years ahead where the time of Covid will be a small and distant memory. I'm 67 years old, and Covid is cutting a huge piece out of the years where I am both retired and healthy enough to walk in the streets or woods, or travel to the places I want to photograph. I feel your anger but remember you and your husband can take the frustration you have now and turn it into extra motivation for the activities you love, when Covid is gone and you are once again 'free'.

Thanks for your inspiring photos / videos. It is not easy finding ideas for photgraphy these days, especially for people in a risc group. I hope things soon change for the better for you and you will have more options. I decided to make a mask portrait series, which only lasted for one video 🙂. Anyway, take care, be safe and many people look forward to more videos from you 🙂. All the best, Ulrik.

I am also a high risk person and can understand your fears all to well. You are very correct that the interests of business are more important to the government than those of the people. The same is true here in Germany - we are currently experiencing a half-hearted lockdown. The high figures are only now being slowly dampened by the inoculations. Going shopping or travelling by bus can be a risky business. You are relying on your and everyone's else's masks fitting properly and still in working order. Outside is, however, is about as safe as you can get - with or without a mask as long as you are keeping your distance. If you are wearing a mask outside, I really can't see much danger in going closer. I suspect that travelling by lift in your block of flats is an awful lot more dangerous due to possible aerosol. And what about the people who deliver stuff? According to the Corona app he was infected ... I see nothing wrong in using a telephoto lens for street photography. A 85mm lens can be quite small and it doesn't move you that far away from your subjects. Anyhow, stay safe and healthy.

Oh Lilly, how the scoundrels had you consumed with fear around that time.

Interesting perspective from your part of the world, thanks for sharing! In general I find that any part of the world, the people that are considered "not useful" because of a decease or handicap will be the last group of people that get help! I just have to look at a friend that hit the wall hard and have to struggle to get help via the system that claims to want to help her. It doesn't help that a virus has delayed and forced some programs to either adapt to being distance based and making it harder to see a health care person for when she needs some help! I am not going to get into the nonsense that is to compare country "X" and "y" because every country has their pros and cons with how they deal with this virus mess! In the end I hope that you get the help you require and at some point can get back that level of comfort that existed before 2020! Take care and if you need anything that I can do for you just ask!

Well, you know I have your back in this, since we're both in similar circumstances, health wise, with things that don't help our chances if we ended up getting the bug, Lucky for me, though, I can go to places where people are thin on the ground, but if I have to be in crowds I make sure I take the precautions I need to. When I go for walks with my cameras, I tend to stick to back streets and places where people don't congregate. There's usually plenty of things to photograph, so I'm happy with that. I'm glad you're staying safe.

And about the difficulties finding subjects for street photo: remember you're on a safari! Lions and gazelles they don't jump in front of your rover for you to take the pics.. you must know the ways of the hunter: find watering places, find feeding grounds, and you will find the game. Walking in the same circles never worked- get a map, zone it out, find said areas, trace a route with appropriate timing observations and minimal path travelled- get smart about the hunt and the prey shall come to you. On landscapes: yes, they're great.. I mean big... and the nicest thing about them is that they stay still ..mostly. Whenever the cap'n Morgan or his "merry crew" is not around (Cap'n Morgan spiced rum, a sincere heartfelt recommendation, with 70% pepsi in it makes for a niiiiice evening ..erm..digestive ..yes, let's leave it at that but try it and you'll see.. wisdom of the old, hark ye, hear ye...). Or when there are no tsunamis/volcanoes /thunderstorms like those you caught during your clip.T-storms are wondrous things! I like lightning, I mean.. it has so much..potential ! lol. Don't hide under tall trees and the like, use a ND 8 and LOOONG exposures , or one of those flash triggers, yada, yada, you know- but mostly- have fun. Recently I dug out my positively ancient Nikon D 100. Ever see one of those? It was, practically, the third practical DSLR ever and sports an amazing 1 inch display(!) in colors! and a CF card. Has 6 distrurbing Mpix. And is an absolute beast at portraiture. I loved it then and I love it now..(nope, that's not Fernando-note to self : change the god+++n radio station, too much ABBA makes me go nuttier than usual).I had a bit of an eureka moment thinking back to where it all started.. early digital with its quirks and so-like-film grain ..and the bodies that weigh a ton ..Oh the joys of shooting raw and developping the results.. or sticking it in BW mode and lending it to curious friends (it was still the wow, a digital camera! time way back then) -and I was like yeah, but you know.. this one's the cheaper model , it only shoots black and white. What does a geezer do in lockdown? (besides going to work ..) - well - I bought a box of SH really old Nikkor lenses for my old monster. And the (other) old geezer said: well you know, I've lost the back cover on this one.. how's I throw in a working D100 body instead, and give it all for 20 euros? Deal, man.. and now I've got 2 D 100s. One was mine from the start- the other's a stray cat. Wifey darling does not love it.. so..I do what wedding photogs did back in the day, and carry two bodies so I don't switch lenses. And then I get back rubs with pain reliever creams.. and they still work. Okay , take care, bye for now, out to shoot some "digital rolls" - time to fill up those CF's!!

Hello Lilly, sorry to hear about how hard it hit you.. yup the pandemic sucks big time and so does being locked inside.. but you are incredibly lucky you know? Yes your job does require that you get in contact with people- maybe at a distance, but hear me out: we've got pretty much the same thing here in Romania- but I was "lucky"- some doofus decided we were "essential personnel" (not really but so it was decided) so I had to go to work at the height of the pandemic/lockdown and they were getting in bed with Rona , dropping left and right around us..not nice at all.To face it daily at close quarters, that's a struggle , me and Rona in opposing trenches..But never give up, never surrender ( the punish and enslave part is entirely optional, courtesy of our friends at Hammerfall) . Glasses and masks, oh my, what a joy, I know it well. The solution is to try and fit some sort of conforming padding so the air doesn't bleed from the top . Yes I look funny with a bit of heavy copper wire taped on top of my mask but my vision is clear!! About the fit and things - surgical masks are enough! For ever! The heavy duty ones are really bad - they restrict too much air and not much more virus.Surgical ones already fit okay and can be fitted in all sorts of ways .About getting a permit for every walk and such- yes we had it too here but we had to check a short list detailing why are you out: medical reasons, work, important emergencies and .. yes, exercise because it is vital .So choose "personal health and exercise reasons" . There is safety in teles and big zooms you know ? :) Screw the gov't.. did you ever really really think they care about us? Ha ha ha, you have me really laughing now. Imagine the pressure some poor dude has on him, on one side the doctors telling they have to isolate all and basically shut down and lock up everything, and on the other hand you have restaurants and "entertainment industry" that are basically starving without working. About Covid in China : they enforce curfews with bullets you know? For a government everyone is expendable, they don't care about Tom, Dick, Harry, or anyone in particular- they care about voters en masse and if you can help them, they count you in .. and that's pretty much it. Nothing personal, business as usual. I myself am in the high risk group - and can't do a thing avbout it. I bit the bullet and got the shot, and besides some minor nuisances I still live.I keep myself almost locked in my office and limit contact using mail and phone for guys that are just next door or next building -luckily I am not in any task teams right now... On the other hand let me tell you somtehing about life : it is meant for living! Not for worrying! Sure, take all precautions you can, but carry on (not necessarily smiling, draw that smile on your mask if you want, I don't like ABBA) and do not needlessly worry. Look, I'll tell you plainly : got an old and very sick colleague, 2 stents in his heart, diabetes with insulin dependency and hipertension- and a month ago he got in bed with Rona, everyone including him thought it's the end- got lucky, it was just like a bad flu, there are some post-effects but minor and the guy's now fine and a local hero telling us how he "bedded" Rona and lived to tell the tale. Yet a very healthy acquaintance of mine , half my age too, got a bad case and is hanging by a thread.Hope he pulls it off. You do not automatically get Rona or die just because your medical history is interesting. That's what I tell myself every morning, there are dentists that refuse to work on me because of my heavy anti-coagullant medicine and other "parts of my personal charm" . I stay away from people too as much as I can but that's an airborne disease , remember that . Yes, whas hands, products you buy etc but get the mask to fit right- the virus is not that small , it can still be caught by surgical masks and those are lighter and work ok. On heavy duty masks: nope, you were not having a panic attack, it was lack of oxygen and severely decreased moisture in the breathing air. These heavy duty masks make the air so dry it is basically painful to breathe. It sucks, it is normal , don't use those unless you ..paint with smelly paints or work with fiberglass, nasty stuff you don't want in your lungs. I was a part-time photographer a long time ago too - nothing serious, it was lovely work that devolved into hobby as I finished my studies and finally went to the joys of being tied to an office.I don't presume to be able to help there at all but .. what's your longest tele? It's time to play sniper , get a 500 or more...not very artistic but damn safe. Be happier, change your mindset : the tourists are wild beasts.. herds of (tame?)impalas or hippos, or .. whatever the case, and you're on a safari. Your city is your jungle.. use the tele , avoid the stampede or unfriendly claws , teeth and horns and bring back amazing photos of the most dangerous predator on Earth : "huuuumannsss";).. And last but not least : I know you are a delicate person of refined tastes but whenever you feel down, remember these are heavy metal times!!! Helloween, Hammerfall, old Nightwish, Iced Earth, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, any brand of Northern metal that floats your boat and Sabaton- that's the doctor's prescription. 10 to 15 minutes daily before every time you get out to your safari. And now, pardon my quote, but.. good night and good hunting! The human animal gets scared of long teles you know.. if you want them to keep distance, bring the longest lens you can, it looks intimidating enough. I mean It's just a camera, I got some myself, but still whenever someone takes aim in my direction with a long tele I feel a bit of a need to distance myself. PS : rely on us.. we're here, we hear you.. most people go through same or worse s##t daily and they will understand.Don't ever put your hopes in the gov't because - tell me when in history did that work right???? It only works if you join'em - then it would matter exactly what party is temporarily in charge and for how long etc. Otherwise, we're here at the grassroots and we look up at them. You know what you see when you're lying in the grass and you look up at people? Asses mostly. Yup, and that's exactly what most of those above us are.Chin up, you'll be fine. And yes, Rona's a b***ch. Hope we'll never meet her in person. PPS : my granpda's uncle was a priest and in times of trouble said that :come what may , but remember there's a spark of Divinity in you- and so in everyone around you. Whatever you do and whatever happens remember that and act accordingly." I personally think it makes me stronger and a bit more valuable than trash... now where did that spark go in the ones that rule us? well.. still searching- there must be something in them too, right, right... riiight??

No more lockdowns for us here in South Africa for some time now. But many many people lost their jobs, so many business closed down and the economy went even further down. But what can you do.

Florida has been completely open since last May so it is so strange to hear about lockdowns. It saved hundreds of thousands of jobs