Street photographers around the world have joined forces to produce a not-for-profit book to raise money for people suffering hardship after the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the time of writing, around 300 photographers have contributed to the Covid Street project.
It was founded by photographer, author and Digital Camera World contributor Adam Juniper; London-based street photographer and author of The New Street Photographer’s Manifesto, Tanya Nagar; and professional lifestyle photographer Tom Clabots.
The Covid Street collective is beating lockdowns to tell a global story through street photography, but without breaking the rules or encouraging people to break them.
And by pooling the images, the Covid Street project hopes that its book will be on sale on or before the anniversary of the first coronavirus case being reported in China – pre-orders will soon be able to be made on the Covid Street site.
"Tanya and I have known each other for years, since I published her first book ’The New Street Photographer’s Manifesto,’” says Adam.
"Since then we’ve worked together on a podcast, Not the Gear, and another book. This was Tanya’s most ambitious idea yet, though – to bring together street photographers to document the rapidly changing times.”
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Lockdowns were not in force when the pair first discussed the putative project, but they soon realised how things would play out. So to move as fast as they could, they began the venture on Instagram.
“Tanya also drafted in our fellow co-founder, photographer Tom Clabots, who is based in Antwerp,” adds Adam.
“He’s been helping us update and manage the feed and now we’re starting to look at the next phase: how we can help deliver targeted relief to creatives – especially photographers – many of whom are starting to suffer economically even as restrictions are slowly beginning to be lifted. We’re keen to hear from relief funds who meet our criteria.”
Adam and Tanya are also sharing some photographic lessons and stories on their Not The Gear podcast.
“The definition of street photography has definitely had to be stretched a little, not least for hard lockdowns like the Italian one – one of our contributors has had to shoot exclusively from his window,” notes Adam.
Prospective contributors can come to Covid Street via direct messaging on Instagram (@covidstreet) and tagging the project (#covidstreet).
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