Took the Leica on a stroll into town on Saturday. There were noticeably fewer people on the streets of Nuremberg. Could have been due to the week of school holidays. But maybe it was the fear of getting infected with the new coronavirus that leaves people confined to their houses.
Although the cases in Germany are still very limited (today 129 out of a population of 83 million – no fatalities yet), there is a lot of concern of a coming pandemic. On Friday we got a company communication directing all employees that are returning from business or private travel to one of the hotspot countries (China, Korea, Italy and a few more) to not come to the office and work for two weeks from home.
The thing is, Italy, the worst hit country in Europe, is just a three hour drive south. And there will be plenty families returning from their ski trips to Northern Italy. And everyone is a bit unsure whether all of this is blown out of proportion, or if there is really an increased risk of a pandemic outbreak. After all, each year the regular flu kills a 5 digit number of people in Germany alone, and nobody really cares. But spreading fear seems to keep more and more people confined to their houses.
I found this photograph of a dummy in the display of a barber shop quite fitting to the situation. Taken with my Leica M and the Summarit 35mm F/2. Have I mentioned I’m totally in love with the bokeh from the Leica glass? That’s a jpg out of camera shot with the B&W film mode, I added a vignette in Lightroom.
You all stay healthy and have a great start into March!
Marcus
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