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Collected Item: “Quarantine expiriences”

Give your story a title.

Quarantine expiriences

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photographic account

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

For the last three or so years I have been deeply interested in photography. I enjoy photographing people and cars, though during the pandemic I have had less of a chance to go out and photograph people, that’s why I thought this would be a good chance for me to get back into the hobby and share some shots I had already captured during the pandemic. These photos have meaning behind them that remind me of all the parts of my life over the last year.
A primary source is any document about a subject that was created by someone who was at the event or took part in whatever the subject is. The portfolio that I created is a primary source as it documents the first hand experiences I had while in the pandemic. It has the highs and the lows, and shows an account of one person's life in the United States of America during Covid-19.
My experiences in the Pandemic were very mixed. Some parts stayed the same, some better, and some worse. Before Covid I had a small group of friends that I hung out with and when all the stay at home orders began I was able to still see them sometimes, and I never went out much so I had a very similar routine. Though one thing that I lost was car meets and races. Not only did mask ordinances make meets harder to plan but Eau Claire also began cracking down on car meets more and more. It was really tough missing out on the fun cameroudery of car meets. I work at a car audio shop and one great positive of the pandemic is that because of relief checks the shop has been constantly booked for the last 6-8 months. Another positive has been going on late night adventures with my friends. We are constantly repairing something or upgrading our cars and so when we get done it is usually late and in the last year we have begun to do fun things late at night when we get done with the daily project.
The first photographs I chose was a representation of the many small businesses in the area that have been closed due to rough times during the pandemic. Many great local businesses have struggled to stay open or failed even failed to do so. The photo was taken at a storage facility for signs of businesses that have closed down in the last year or two.
The photographs of cars are meant to represent the many new late night adventures that me and my friends have had during the pandemic. These trips were one of the main things that helped me cope with the pandemic and hold on to normal life just a little bit.
The photo of the room is of my childhood room at my parents house. During this fall at UWEC I got a call from the school informing me I had possibly come into contact with someone and I had to quarantine for two weeks. At this same time my father contracted COVID and this meant that I was confined to this one room for my two weeks of waiting. The room became my very own jail cell, after just a few days and it was very difficult for me to pay attention in school during my quarantine. It was one of the roughest my mental health has been in my life

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#UWECHIST172

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Samuel Poli

Give this story a date.

2021-04-24
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