Closed Until Further Notice: Diptychs by Dave Sowerby

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Lomographer tdave a.k.a. Dave Sowerby has a compelling documentary set of diptychs, Closed Until Further Notice, which is a perfect metaphor for the current state of being across the world. Shot in his very own town, Glasgow, the pictures reverberate toward every other human's need for socializing.

For Dave and the entirety of the United Kingdom, it all happened in a flash on a single Friday, 20th March. The UK instructed every establishment such as bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, cinemas and gyms to close due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Dave is used to the buzz in the city center especially during weekenders, when restaurants will be packed, people queuing for takeaways and bars will be filled up. According to Dave, it's no secret too that people in Glasgow love a swig of drink on weekends too. All of these are what would constitute normal Friday urban scenery for Dave as he walks home from work. Instead, he encountered a different scenario during that evening.

"People seemed to be rushing straight home, restaurants were in the process of locking up and the few pubs that were still open were virtually empty. Up to that point, the virus had only really been something occupying the news, something that for most wasn't yet having a direct impact on their lives. But all of a sudden the first visible sign of the evolving situation could be clearly seen on our doorsteps as the pubs, restaurants, clubs, theatres, cinemas, and gyms closed to their doors to the public that weekend."

On that Sunday morning following the announcement, he set out with his camera and two rolls of black and white film. He captured different types of businesses that had closed that would affect a person's normality. As the visual artist that he is, it was seeing the cinemas close that hit him hard the most: "For me, it was walking past the cinemas that hit home the most, on any normal weekend I would be heading into one to catch a film at the end of a Photowalk, but not on that day."

"All at once these aspects of society and everyday life were closed off to us as the doors to these businesses closed that weekend."

There's something that leaves a lasting impression on us when something suddenly gets taken away from our daily lives -- the abrupt change of the collective social life -- and that's when Dave was driven to document these closed doors. These closed doors mean more than just establishments being out of service, they also mean that socializing has come to a halt. Businesses meant for entertainment, cultural enrichment, leisure, exercise, health, and social life have suddenly become unavailable.

Dave used a half-frame camera, an Olympus Pen FT SLR, for his diptychs. Since these diptychs are being created naturally due to the format, Dave intended to show the relationship between the establishment and its door to send a message. Following the announcement, Glasgow eerily became a quiet city on a sunny, early spring day:

"Sometimes disparate photos reveal unintentional relationships with their neighbour in the roll connecting them in an interesting way, or the format can be used to shoot photos side by side that deliberately invoke a narrative with each other. The later was how I intended to use the half-frame format, paring an exposure of a business that was closed that weekend alongside its corresponding closed door or closed signage. In a way showing what we have, and alongside it, what we have temporarily lost."

There was a sense of urgency for Dave to capture this story. Already hunching that further measures will take place to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, Dave quickly adapted to the changes about to come once another press conference announcement was made by the UK government and shot the images as soon as possible. Wanting these pictures to be relevant and timely, he developed the rolls on his own using Ilford DDX and digitized them using a mirrorless camera and light table set-up. There's a certain gritty aspect of his shots in which Dave believes could be him forgetting dust off his scans -- but there's a certain grit present in his images that make the series all the more perfect.

The night he finished processing his images, the UK prime minister announced the lockdown that would have hindered the creation of this wonderful, emotional series had Dave not shot them as soon as possible.

Currently, life goes on for Dave and counts his blessings -- being able to work on a secure job. His company distributes bicycles and many have been buying them online for exercise due to the pandemic. According to Dave, like many other lucky people who aren't seriously affected by the virus, life is in a state of limbo as we all wait for things to become normal and safe again. Aside from working in the weekdays, he's also been playing around with light leaks macro photography at-home, even self-developing them.