A St Albans resident has created a photo journal with the aim of raising funds for charity and documenting the change in our lives since the pandemic began.
Finola McManus started taking photos during the first lockdown last year to send to close friends to brighten their day but has now created Lockdown Reflections.
The journal which captures the first 60 days of the lockdown documents the changes within St Albans.
Finola said she initially began taking photos whilst out during her daily exercise alongside adjusting to the confusion of the pandemic.
She said: “I think obviously people went into a tailspin. It was a complete shock so I took to walking each day and I had friends who were shielding or not going out at all so I decided to take some photos to send to them.
“This group of friends then began to chase me each day because it became a bit of a connection for them to the outside world.”
Finola explained that the photos then became a way to see how the community was changing as day-by-day residents were experiencing things not seen before.
She said: “Walking around St Albans it was really eery and it was strange noticing the occasional person wearing a face mask for the first time as we all started queuing outside supermarkets.
“It was a whole new world. If you stop now and look back on the things that were incomprehensible, they are now considered normal.”
At the time of writing Finola had raised nearly £2,000 for NHS Charities Together.
To check out the photo journal e-book for free, donate or purchase a hardback copy head to justgiving.com/fundraising/finolamcmanus
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