An Pre-Pandemic Aquarium Trip

I was going through my photography folder again as part of my monthly trip through the maze, not really looking for anything in particular or even considering cleaning it up a bit despite what appears to be exponential growth in size. I went into a folder I had named "DSLR" for some reason, probably to distinguish what was taken with an old DSLR and what was 35mm film photography,

I came across a set of images I never did share, ones that their file properties state were added as early as January 2020; the very early months of a chaotic illness that would soon spread across the world and leak to catastrophe. Looking back, it is weird to see these images I took at a short trip to a nearby aquarium. Where that pre-pandemic happiness still remained and we were free of that inevitable paranoia we all felt just a short few weeks later. I remember knowing that it was only a matter of time until the virus would spread around the United Kingdom, and I recall having that feeling of knowing something bad was coming.

I remember standing in an editing suite with a group of people around this time, talking about the virus and our thoughts on it. At that time there weren't any confirmed cases here, and people didn't really think much of it. I recall many of them thinking it would not have an impact on us or even reach us in the first place. The events later resulted in our paths never crossing again due to the isolation that came into place soon after.

I have brief memories of taking these photographs. Roaming through the dark, lit by blue and purple tints from the lights that illuminated many of the tanks holding the fish. You could buy each of these animals if you wanted to. Including that large eight-legged friend in the final image, for whatever strange reasons you may have for wanting that in the same environment you sleep in. I don't remember what the camera was that I shot these with either.

It's fascinating how photography can have such a strange impact on us. Being so simple but giving nostalgia and depth into a time that was either long ago or just two years ago. A reminder of how little time must pass for things to really change; how it doesn't really stop for any of us or care whether we are prepared for what is to come next. Photographs are just moments of time captured in eternity.

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