A woman takes a child to school, past posters in a Church Street window.

The Distance Project 8

I’ve been having a look around the railway town of Wolverton for the project. There’s a cluster of houses on Church Street where most of the houses have lockdown posters in the windows, and nearby a shop has a big painted design, though it’s closed under the rules. The town is quiet, and just a few shops are allowed to be open.

I’ve also got three shots from other places in Milton Keynes to show you.

This week’s photos were taken a little over two weeks ago, but I’ve held them over to cover two events, or rather the absence of those events, in Stony Stratford. That is, Stony Live, and Folk on the Green.

In the project I'm photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown. You can see all the other Distance Project photos I’ve put on the North Bucks Wanderer here, but there’s many more from this project that I haven’t published. 

Some would not come over well on the NBW because the photos are rather compressed here; they lose fine detail. Some are too similar to pictures already published on this blog, but I took them to make as complete a record as possible.

The project continues.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

On what would normally be a school day, the car park at the Radcliffe School is almost empty.

A few locals walk by the closed Cock Hotel. In previous years there’s barely a parking spot to be found on the High Street, but tonight the street is almost empty.

The Distance Project 7

Last week should have been the nine day annual Stony Live festival with bands and other live entertainment in Stony Stratford, Bucks; there were over a hundred acts last year. But the pubs are shut, the streets quiet. There are other venues too, but here are some pubs in the town that usually have live music during those nine days.

On Sunday 14th June, another regular event had been planned to take place in the town, on Horsefair Green. It’s called Folk on the Green. In previous years the green is filled with people, there’s a stage half way down one side, and stalls line the edge of the green and the road that goes by it.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

The Plough is dark, the front patio is empty. All is quiet. In previous years during Stony Live the outside tables would be full of drinkers.

The Monday Photo

Here I am, at dusk, on my own doorstep. This photo was taken as part of my Distance Project, where I am photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown.

I’m affected by the lockdown just like anybody else, so like many of my Distance Project photos, there’s a good two metres either side of the subject, myself.

Quite a lot of my photos from that project were taken while down on one knee, so I’ve duplicated that by setting the tripod to the same sort of height.

The project is going well, and I have a list of subjects still to cover; the list keeps growing as I’m given leads by my subjects, and when lockdown restrictions are changed. In years to come, this is going to be a strange set of photos to look back on, but I’m hoping this project will be a useful historical resource.

I have little idea about how this project will end; that’s not really under my control and neither should it be. I will just keep taking photos until it’s all over.

This, by the way, is one of the few self portraits I’ve made in years. It’s a selfie, I suppose, and I used to make them quite often with my film camera and a nice wide lens, held at arm’s length. The lens and camera were not too heavy, and it was easy.

When I went to digital photography in 2009, this all stopped. I soon found that the camera and lens combination I’d bought was much too heavy to hold at arm’s length, for a self portrait. That’s when I stopped taking selfies, long before they were even called that.

I will be showing you new photos from the project on Thursdays, as long as the lockdown and its effects continues.

(Edited, September 2021)
As well as being a Monday Photo, this is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page.

The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

My sister in law has been bringing “the boys”, my nephews, to see me nearly every week since they were babies; they are now 19 and 21. With the lockdown in place, this couldn’t happen. But with the changes to the restrictions, the whole family came to see me on Tuesday.
They brought camping chairs, biscuits and drinks, I sat at my garden table. It was great; nothing beats seeing the people you care about, face to face.

The Distance Project 6

Some lockdown restrictions were relaxed on Monday, so there’s been a few changes in behaviour. The more vulnerable are allowed to venture out, though there are still some curbs on what they can do. Visitors in the garden are now permitted. Meanwhile, I take my car to be fixed. In the project I'm photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown.

Charlotte Hall came to the churchyard to tend a grave for her neighbour, who is unable to leave home during the lockdown.

The Distance Project 5

This week’s photos are mostly from out in the countryside, and from the park by North Willen lake in Milton Keynes. While some businesses are able to carry on with restrictions, others remain closed. But it’s now okay to travel further to get exercise and fresh air.

In the project I'm photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

Bessie Davis came from Steeple Claydon to walk along footpaths between Botolph Claydon and Granborough, but it was so windy she decided to stay in the car. It was a wise decision. Half an hour later she would have been caught in a short but heavy shower.

In J.C. Meat’s farm unit at Hogshaw, Charlie the butcher puts away meat on Saturday lunchtime after the shop has been open all morning. The shop has been opening as usual on a Saturday but they’ve now set up an ordering scheme. It takes just a couple of minutes to collect and pay for your order; cutting risk to a minimum. They’ve also started making Friday deliveries to help those who have to socially isolate.

All the playgrounds at South Willen Lake are blocked off.

The Distance Project 4

This photo project started very simply, as posed photos of people exercising under social distancing restrictions in my local parks in Milton Keynes, but I’m now expanding the scope of the project to other areas of life under efforts to fight the pandemic.

I’m also able to go further afield now there’s been some relaxation of the lockdown. Recently I’ve been to Willen lake, Woughton on the Green (both not far from where I live), Newton Longville, and Whaddon.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

This play area at Simpson had been taped off because of concerns that the Covid-19 virus could be picked up from the surfaces.

This rider had come to the allotments at Woughton on the Green to look after a friend’s plot. The friend is stuck abroad because of lockdown restrictions.