Annan Through a Pandemic

Annan Through a Pandemic



Coronavirus has changed all of us in one way or another. Decades and even centuries from now future generations will read about this pandemic and because we live now in a digital world where photographs and video footage are commonplace they will be able to see what it was like for our generation. Of course, different people will have different experiences. Such experiences will be influenced by cultures, beliefs and a 'sense of place.' It was the desire to record a specific 'sense of place' that was the inspiration behind Annan Through a Pandemic.


I moved to Annan in 1983. Like most people I enjoyed delving into the town's history and in particular I loved looking at old photographs of the town from Victorian times. Those images with people dressed in the clothes of their era allow us a glimpse of what it must have been like living back then. I've seen faded images of townsfolk sitting around the Fish Cross or horses and traps going along the High Street with the architecture of the town as a backdrop. I've been enthralled by photographs of people on the quayside witnessing the launching of one of Annan's famous clippers. Visitors and residents alike enjoy looking through photographs of yesteryear in the many issues of the Riding of the Marches programmes. None of these things would be possible if someone hadn't recorded those moments in history. 

When Coronavirus hit the world and Annan went into lockdown I found that walking the empty, still streets allowed me to see the town in a way I hadn't before. Somehow the architecture and history of the place shone again. I realised that, like the rest of the world, we were living through a very unique moment in time. With that in mind I set about recording the town through these strange times. I wanted to show the beauty of the buildings - along with the occasional eyesore - so that we can all reflect on what we have and what we are in danger of losing.
I wanted to show people coming back onto the streets in small, tentative numbers and then in greater numbers. I wanted to record what it was like when we were asked to start wearing masks in the shops and how some people found fun in personalising these masks. I wanted to capture the difficulties, the sadness and the hope and joy that shines through from smiles behind the masks. As we took small steps back to normality I wanted to show how difficult it was for shopkeepers to make a living through these times and how businesses embraced the necessary changes.



When I started the project early in 2020 I had no idea we would still be suffering the effects of the pandemic more than a year later - and even beyond!. As a consequence, this project is perhaps one of the most comprehensive photography projects undertaken in Annan's history. I amassed hundreds of photographs of the town and its people over a twelve month period and I believe these images document an important piece of social history. The spirit of Annan lives in its history, its architecture, the people of yesteryear and you and me - the people of today. 


To everyone who has featured in any of these images (knowingly or unknowingly) I thank you for being part of a project that aims to show future generations what we have gone through in a small town in Southwest Scotland. We may be sharing the same coronavirus problem with the rest of the world but Annan is unique and we as its people are all unique. 





Many of the images taken now form part of a book - Annan Through a Pandemic. It is my hope that the images in this book will act as a lasting record of an unusual period in Annan's history. 







Annan Through a Pandemic is available to purchase as eBook, PDF and collector’s edition hardback.



PDF link & Collectors Edition Hardback link - https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/10805113-annan-through-a-pandemic-2020-2021


Follow me at:-  www.tomlphotography.blogspot.com
Follow me at:-  www.twitter.com/tomlphotography

Articles and photography copyright of Tom Langlands

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Plight of the Scottish Wildcat

Image
The summer sun dips behind the pine trees. A deer drinks at the edge of a rippling stream; its ears flicking with every sound. An owl on sentry duty calls, heralding the changing of the forest guard. There is a stirring on a branch above and the rising moon catches a pair of waking eyes piercing the gloom. Then slowly he descends, like amber sap sliding down ancient bark. On the ground he pauses, displaying tiger-like black markings and a distinctive broad, ringed tail. He is alert and his senses keen. Something in the heather moves and he hugs the woodland floor, silently edging forward. He pounces, lifts his head revealing a small vole, turns and melts into the night. He is a Scottish Wildcat and his ancestors have lived in these forests since the last ice age separated this land from modern day Europe. He was here before man came to these lands and before domestic cats existed. Back then, he shared this island with his distant cousin the Lynx, before the latter wa
Read more

The Art of Street Photography

Image
It wasn’t until I got a Saturday job in a camera shop at the age of sixteen that I truly discovered photography. It was rather like being a child in a sweet shop and without doubt it was my first appreciation of the phrase ‘toys for the  boys’ (although that should definitely include girls now too). As a member of staff I was allowed to borrow second-hand cameras and of course I got first-hand experience of all the new equipment that arrived. I have no idea how many different cameras I experimented with but over the course of that first year it was well into double figures. That was almost fifty years ago and without doubt that was where I learned the basics of photography and all of the technical skills that I have carried with me through life.  A few years later I went to Art College to study architecture but I still worked during holiday periods in photography shops. Looking back I now realise that my interest in photography combined with learning about buildings
Read more

Loch Ken and the Galloway Kite Trail

Image
To the north of the busy market town of Castle Douglas in southwest Scotland is beautiful Loch Ken. This sliver of water ten miles (sixteen kilometres) long is part of the River Dee system providing some of the finest scenery in Dumfries and Galloway. Today, Loch Ken is well known for sailing and fishing. Perhaps less well known is the important role that the loch and surrounding area play in protecting and enhancing the nation’s wildlife. It is a role that presents many challenges and although some struggles lie ahead, history bears testimony to the fact that in this part of Scotland challenges and struggles come with the territory. Around Loch Ken lie several attractive villages including New Galloway to the north and Parton and Crossmichael to the east. High on the green slopes to the west is the old church at Balmaghie. It is in the graveyard of this small country church that evidence of darker times can be found.  The old church at Balmaghie In the late 1630s King
Read more