The storm has definitely arrived in the form of a virus, Covid-19 has caused huge disruption to the global economy and people life choices and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Here are PhotoFinance we are also affected, locked down Britain is no fun we are working from home, but that does not help as a photographer needs to visit their clients to be able to make images. So work has just stopped, but that does not mean that we have to stop working. Looking forward life will return to normal, people will go back to work and we (individually and collectively) will have a huge financial problems to solve, as so many people will be in financial situations that they did not plan for, or even expect.

In the mean time I as a self employed photographer working in the financial Services sector am going to spend this time revising my marketing plans, reaching out to established clients to maintain existing relationships and seeing what I can create in the down time that we will have in the time of being locked down in Britain.

I never thought I would live though something like this and it is quite extraordinary how quickly things can change in our lives. Things we thought not possible or we were told would take a long time to happen, can and have taken a weekend to be utterly changed (take the Railway Franchises in Britain as a example, as described this Guardian article.

So while we have time to think about our lives and what we want because of the enforced work from home orders, I am going to propose that we also think about what kind of world we want to emerge from this situation. I for one am going to redouble my efforts in my marketing of my photography services as I want to work for interesting people who can appreciate the images that I aim to make. I established this website and PhotoFinance.org while I was teaching as I had an insight into the kind of work I wanted to create and show to others, I am fascinated in how our financial sector shapes the world around us and I decided that I want to be a part of that. My background was not in banking but is fashion advertising and editorial photography and looking at the work that was often being created for financial services companies, I decided that I could make images that connected with their audiences better than was being done. So when this is all over. I would love to hear from you if you have a project that you are working on and you need images to illustrate your work.

In the meantime, I hope everyone stays safe and well, and if you do catch the virus that you recover quickly with no long lasting side effects. I am doing my best to ‘Help the NHS’ by self isolating as much as I can. 

Michael Wayne Plant, March 2020.