My 2020 Visual Diary: Life in Lockdown

Hello, welcome to my new blog. This week, I just got my 6 months' worth (or more) of film scans from the lab. I've been doing film photography for quite some time now even though it's for my loved ones and I's eyes only. 

Today though, I decided to share a visual diary with some of my photos. When I first got my film scans, my brain shut down to process every photo that I took this year. There are 5 films in total and that's about 100+ photos all in all. I didn't expect that I actually documented this year well through these random snapshots I took before and during lockdown. From happy faces to random objects in my house, these photos are unfiltered, unaesthetic, and 101% raw. So without further ado, here are some of my favorites from my film scans:

Had a photo walk during the Chinese New Year. January 25, most people are still happily celebrating without face masks and face shields - Binondo, Manila

My last out of town trip this year. End of January - Agoo, La Union.

This is me a day before the March 16 Metro Manila lockdown, picking up my first film camera at Escolta.

My last MRT ride. I don't know who this guy is lol

I taught my boyfriend how to ice skate. It was such a great day lol. 

March - Megamall, Mandaluyong

Lockdown at home. 

I always see this cat when I need to grab some food from our small convenience store.

The first time I saw my mom again. I was so happy. We ate at SNR (she's wearing a mask but we are eating here so...)

I went to my favorite bookstore after a long time. I was so happy that I got to buy some new books. 

Bae took me biking around the city when the lockdown was officially lifted and we were downgraded to a much more relaxed quarantine. This is my second favorite bookstore and I bought the books that I've been eyeing since last year.

It's funny how these small films made such a huge impact on me when I got them. I used to shoot photos through analog photography for fun and to see the world in the most unfiltered, raw, and un-aesthetic way which is why I never bothered creating an Instagram account for my film photos. But I did not expect it to hit me like this. Seeing how 2020 went from me saying that this is going to be my best year ever to experiencing sh*t show from everything that happened to everyone, at the end of the day, I just want to be grateful that I'm alive, my family is still COVID -free and we can all still support ourselves even though I must admit, it is hard. 

From a fun hobby to being something that I will cherish, these photos may not see the light in the interwebz but I will forever hold these precious to me. Maybe I'll create a tangible photo book out of it or print it out to put in my journal... oh heck, I'm gonna do it all. 

I hope that you enjoyed this mini visual diary. 

Thank you for reading my blog and see you in the next one.