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Pandemic Reflections

During pandemic, I have been through 5 times of quarantine, PCR, isolation experiences. I have put my multiple thoughts and observations into works, hoping that I can reflect and remember this weird time of an era.

Where I did the Covid test after quarantine

After I went back to Hong Kong from Finland, I did my fourth time quarantine. I documented the people in line waiting for the PCR test in front of the testing center. This is a panorama/photo collage created with 28 photos.

After my 14 days quarantine in the hotel, I gotta do a 7 days self isolation. I have to go to the testing center to do a two pcr test ( I have done around 6~7 times of PCR in total during the 21 days). I was not able to get a reservation for the second time of the PCR test after the hotel quarantine, so I went to the testing center one and a half hours before it opened and I still waited for another hour after it opened. It was already near noon when I finished the test. The number of people waiting there was incredible. Some people knew that they had to wait for a long time so they even brought a chair to sit down and chat with their family and friends while waiting. Some people are like me, doing a mandatory test after 14 days in a hotel; some people just wanted a test to make sure they didn’t get covid. With all these people standing together for hours, I started to wonder if anyone got the covid just by waiting in line?

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What I ate in quarantine

After I went back to Hong Kong from Finland, I did my fourth time quarantine. I documented all I ate during my 14 days.

I put the pictures in the up left, up right, down left, down right corner, according to the meal I dined in the day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack. There was always an egg in the breakfast, always a fruit in dinner. Sometimes I overslept and didn’t get breakfast;  sometimes I fell asleep early and didn’t eat my dinner; sometimes the hotel meal was too bad and I ordered the midnight snacks.

Here is what I ate between 1/24~2/7.

What I did during quarantine

After I went back to Hong Kong from Finland, I did my fourth time quarantine. I documented what I was doing everything day at around 12am and 12pm.

This room is the best one I have had when comparing the three times of quarantine in Hong Kong. The room is not big(although it looks quite large under my 20mm wide angle lens), but the big open window was right next to my bed made me feels much more comfortable mentally, not to mention I just came back from the magnificent scenaries of Finland. However, the height and size of the table and chair is obviously not designed for my body size which I found very comfortable in Finland. I found that sitting on the floor is actually more comfortable at the end.

Here is what I documented between 1/24~2/7.

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Mask

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Since the pandemic started in late 2019, everyone started to wear masks. The scenery on the street has really amazed me.

People who have known me for a while may noticed that I like to observe faces, whether they are close friends or strangers. A face’s appearance or expressions always give me a lot of imaginations of stories. To me, the beauty of a face is complex and irreplaceable, from the faint crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes in stills, or the slight tremble at the corners of the mouth in motion,  they all convey emotions obviously or subtly. Looking at people’s faces, sometimes I see the individuality and uniqueness of people from the differences in their features and expressions; Sometimes, I see the homogeneity and objectivity in the similarity in Déjà vu. However, since 2019, the pandemic making people wear masks, covering most of their faces have changed how the faces made me feel.

The masks covered a large part of the face and seemed to cover up the uniqueness of each person. Even an acquaintance on the road could be missed as a stranger and a stranger could be recognized as a friend. By wearing a mask, everyone seems to be instantly generalized in some way. People all have an obvious common feature suddenly. However, photographer often say  that the eyes are the window to the soul, and even if the lower half of the face is covered, each person’s eyes may still emit the same unique vibe. Doesn’t a person’s choice of mask style and own way of wearing also express a unique personality traits? The thing about wearing a mask change the way I look at faces is really interesting. Although it has dampened my interest in observing people’s faces for the past two years, it has also made me think a lot.