A woman from Melton who decided to capture what life was like during lockdown in Melton during lockdown has showcased her amazing final piece in a wonderful video.
Maria Munro decided to capture what was happening in Melton because she wanted to see how Melton coped with the outbreak of Covid-19.
She said: "I decided to do this as I wanted something that we could all look back on in years to come and remember the pandemic that changed the world. I did it for your children and your grandkids and for me and my own well-being"
The video shows photos that Maria has taken during lockdown of various people and organisations across the Borough.
Melton Town Centre pictured in the middle of the afternoon during the National lockdown. Photo: NEMM.
She added: " I am not a professional photographer, but I love taking photos. I love the outdoors, so my main passion is landscape photography. However, I can’t get out with my camera that much, as I also love biking. I couldn’t bike during lockdown, so I dusted off my camera and decided to set myself a project! I mainly take photos when I travel and last year spent 5 weeks travelling around Vietnam and Myanmar. This is when I also developed a passion for telling a story, capturing how different countries live, their culture, food, attire and religion. I would love to be a travel or documentary photographer."
Melton, like the rest of the UK, was placed in to lockdown in March 2020 with people only being allowed out for a daily exercise.
A screenshot from the video showing queues outside Tesco at the peak of lockdown. Photo: Maria Munro/Youtube.
Maria wanted to photograph key workers at work, however, due to Government restrictions, hospitals and care homes would not allow her to enter the premises.
Maria who is a British Sign Language Interpreter by day said: "It was difficult, as I am not a professional photographer, so when I was asked why I was doing it and responded ‘to make a video for Facebook for people to look back on’ Managers did not want to allow me to take photos."
A PCSO features on the video while out on patrol as a keyworker during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Melton area. Photo: Maria Munro/Youtube.
"Really, I wanted to capture raw emotion, nurses and carers at work, people in hospital with COVID, people being discharged, funerals, etc. I couldn’t do this, so I decided to put a call out on Facebook and also contact key workers that I knew to ask if I could photograph them outside their homes, wearing their uniforms. Not that many people who I didn’t know came forward, again I think people were not sure why I was doing it and neither was I!"
Maria has tried to include everything that she thought had changed as a result of COVID, rainbows, people clapping, signs and so on.
She continued: " I wanted to capture how the community had pulled together, Old Dalby was a great example of this and I loved seeing the work they were doing in helping the vulnerable and elderly. VE Day was also great, as it showed how neighbours had bonded during this time. Dalgliesh Way was amazing, they held social distancing street parties every weekend, which included bingo, DJ, fancy dress, just to name a few.
I photographed volunteers who were making accessories for NHS staff and PPE, as what they were doing was amazing. I also wanted to include a picture of Captain Tom Moore and two local twins, Harry and Hector, who had raised money for the NHS by making loom band bracelets. We are all so grateful for the work of our key workers and I portrayed that by photographing the clapping on a Thursday night. "
Maria finished the photography in June and started the project when the shelves were restocked with toilet roll!
The video will now be available for all to see in years to come and remember what life was like during the national lockdown of 2020.
You can see the video below featuring music by local musician George Simpson.
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