Belmont Street, lunchtime on 9th April 2020

Photographer Calum Fraser (Aberdeen, Scotland)

Date9th April 2020

Object Namedigital photograph

Mediumdigital file (jpg)

ClassificationsBorn Digital

DimensionsDigital Resolution (Width x Height): 4000 × 2667 pixels

AcquisitionPresented in 2021 by Calum Fraser.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS095727.1

Keywords

About MeDigital photograph taken by Calum Fraser on 9th April 2020.

In his own words: "Initially when the Covid lockdown started my reaction was to spend some time each day walking in Victoria and Westburn Parks, the conventionally "good" places to wander in, but after a few days it dawned on me that in many ways the centre of the city was far more interesting with familiar streets taking on a strange alien atmosphere with close to no people and no traffic to be seen.

To be able to look along Belmont Street in the middle of the day and to see nobody was a very disquieting experience. I have lived in Aberdeen’s Rosemount for 28 years and have never seen the streets so empty even at strange hours of the night there has always been someone to be seen. The wrongness of it was profound, cities are people and the people were absent. This period of utter lack of people only lasted for a few days before many recovered some degree of confidence and allowed themselves to go out that little bit more and the streets regained a small vestige of their normal selves.

I only took a few photographs in this early part of the spring 2020 lockdown and hopefully they carry a hint of the strange atmosphere of the city in that strange time that already has a feeling of unreality in its memories."