35mm film diary, confinement

Two months of confinement, documented

There’s so much I could say about all the shit that’s going down in this very messed up world of ours right now. But… for just a brief moment… let’s back up a couple of months. To March 16th, precisely. The day that mandatory confinement was implemented here in France. It somehow simultaneously feels like yesterday and a whole goddamn lifetime ago.

I chose to quarantine alone, in the apartment I’ve been renting in the fifth arrondissement for about two years now. At first, I did seriously consider isolating with Ash, but after a hella lotta deliberation decided against it, as I knew it would be difficult for me to focus on school and work in an environment other than my apartment, my “safe place”. I’m still not entirely sure that it was the right call, but I suppose there were advantages and disadvantages to each choice and I was at least saved the hassle of packing up a suitcase with all of my school and teaching supplies (not to mention two months worth of clothing) and hauling it across Paris. Also, Ash doesn’t have a microwave. This may or may not have heavily influenced my final decision.

During this two month period I did my best to document my daily life… from the morning “sanity walks” I took around my neighborhood nearly every day, to various signs and notices announcing the temporary closure of shops and restaurants, to the handful or so of assignments I spent most of April working on for school. I won’t pretend these are the most fascinating shots I’ve ever captured; they are a bit repetitive, after all. But this was what my life looked like for 55 days (yes… I kept track). I didn’t want to risk forgetting. And, um, how weird is it to see Paris’ busy streets so freaking empty? It was like an actual ghost town, or something out of the Twilight Zone.

Ohhh, and about a month in my parents shipped me a care package, which included masks, vitamins, peanut butter cups… you know, all the essential things. They’re pretty great (my mom and dad, I mean, though the PB cups are awesome, too).

I hope you like these pictures. ♥

(And please sign these petitions if you haven’t already.)

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3 comments on “35mm film diary, confinement”

  1. omg the positioning of that laptop made me so nervous hahh. // My roomie went back home to quarantine with her family and her parents offered to host me as well, but I decided against it because I knew we would be quarantined for awhile, and I didn’t know if I could hold onto my sanity living in an apartment with another family, so I ended up quarantining alone for almost two months, but I recently joined my family in LA to quarantine. I don’t know which situation I prefer because I do pretty well living alone. I think that no matter what situation we’re in, we’ll doubt whether we made the best decision because no matter what choice we make, the situation doesn’t change and it’s less than ideal, to say the least. I hope you’re adjusting okay! <3 The care package was really sweet of your parents :') -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s

  2. I adore these pictures (& your blog in general!)!!! The beautiful light on all of them <3 
    Love, Eva

  3. I love your pictures of this very very odd time we’ve all lived and are now slowly coming out of. It is actually kinda disturbing to see big cities like Paris sooo empty… I hope you are doing well, and enjoying some of the normal things again.