I was in San Francisco for work when the COVID-19 pandemic began. California closed up pretty quickly, and my work was canceled. I had a few days to spend out in SF after the city shut down, so I took to the streets with my camera for a few days.
It was an eerie feeling, the streets were empty, stores and restaurants had closed down. It felt like the day after a major disaster. There is so much misinformation, politicizing the virus and the response, and worst of all no national leadership. We are absolutely in the middle of a major disaster and we're trying to be safe and care for ourselves and our families, doing the best we can.
In the midst of all this, I started to get a feeling of despair and resignation. That we are a flawed species, in spite of all the talk about peace, love, and understanding, we are pretty much ready to let ignorance, greed and hate determine our future, or demise, as we navigate this pandemic. I spend a lot of time thinking about this, probably on the verge of obsessive, how to change it, wondering if we could ever become a better animal and start to care for, respect, and help each other through this.
I sometimes feel a little hope, not often, but small glimpses of something better to come filter through.
I took this photograph in San Francisco on March 18, 2020. I've come to see that there probably is some hope, that flowers will still bloom in the world, and maybe that little bit of beauty will inspire insight and action. I believe that we all possess the beauty of a flower, now we need to start sharing that beauty which is in each of us.