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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 826394" data-attributes="member: 53455">Primes in lockdown (March 2020)March 2020, the first days and weeks of COVID lockdown in France...Having been head of the Legal Department in a world-leading biotech company for 12 years before I retired in December 2018, I was quite accustomed to dealing with emerging pathogens and what’s to be done in such a case. Therefore, as soon as I heard and confirmed factual reports about what was happening in China through local contacts from my earlier profession (and that was early January 2020), I knew what would be coming and I quietly began to stockpile foodstuffs, basic products,  as well as gloves and masks —not those ridiculous surgery masks that don’t help much, but the FFP3 masks that have genuine filtration and  protection capabilities, such as the one in this photo. They were readily available by then, and still very inexpensive.My wife, who had just retired at the beginning of 2020, mocked me at the time, as all the powers-that-be kept uttering soothing words about how the virus would never come to us (just like the cloud from Chernobyl which flew all over Western Europe but conveniently stopped at the Rhine and never crossed over into France...). There was, unfortunately, no more mocking in the weeks and months that followed. I wish the mocking had continued, as that would have meant I was wrong, and nobody likes to be right about so many people meeting an untimely death all over the world, even if France ended up being much less hit than many other countries.Anyway, in March 2020 I shot this picture with items that were going to be so symbolic of 2020 and 2021... and probably other years to come.Being fortunate enough to live in a large house with lots of space for each other and an ample garden surrounding it if we really had to take a walk, I must say we lived through the lockdown without any issue. Of course, I was frustrated for not being allowed to pursue photographic projects outside, but I had quite a backlog of shots to process and I set myself to doing that instead, with the additional interest of studio sessions I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I went out to the supermarket once a week, as well protected as I could, and my wife and I got the Pfizer shots as soon as the vaccine was available. I am glad to say neither of us ever contracted the disease, even though I was a contact case once. My wife stayed happily at home, involved in her various projects, and did not poke her head out for three months, not even to go down the driveway to collect the mail! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite11" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR II, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. I see the lens was stopped down to ƒ/5.6 for this shot, and given the depth of field I see on my screen, there was obviously some focus-stacking involved, but I have no further record of that.[ATTACH=full]412436[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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