Witness the snippets of quarantine come to life in evocative images and breathtaking videos that are documenting history unfold as if it were an auteur’s masterpiece.
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We are living in such strange times—and that is a severe understatement on the overarching trajectory of stories, truths, and realities that have since dissented to the arbitrary concept of time. With the days becoming nothing more than numbers frustratingly tallied on the walls closed in on us by varying degrees of necessary forms of quarantine, it has become increasingly clear that life as we know it as far from the comfortable and convenient normal that we once knew. Over the course of the past few weeks, the world has been scrambling for solutions to flatten the curve and even better, eradicate the coronavirus pandemic completely. But even with the best of efforts, one that has seen many of the best, brightest, and bravest fall to the violent lashing of Covid-19, there is still no clear end in sight.
Despite forging ahead in the best of efforts to maintain some sort of equilibrium in society that is dangerously teetering on the fulcrum of society, the global pandemic has completely rewritten and redefined the way world exists from this point forward. You don’t even have to set foot outside the confines of your homes to notice an unsettling difference. What was once a cacophony of choruses drilling down your consciousness far beyond the entrenches of an earshot is now a drape of deafening silence, violated only by the intermittent roar of sound from essential exemptions. And the streets that were once bursting with so much of life’s hustle has since become an eerie backdrop of a glaring bygone.
Being cautiously hopeful and completely realistic in the age of social and physical distancing to curb the spread of the alarmingly aggressive virus, this is the world we live in, at least for the foreseeable future.
So, while it may take some time before the enhanced community quarantine parameters are lifted, giving us the liberty to step out and fully acclimate with the world outside again, a few have taken to documenting this rare occurrence of standstill in our history. With the help of technology, innovation, and heaps of creativity, the internet has produced time capsules showing Philippine cities and municipalities in a different light. From quiet ghost town of business districts to scenes of LGUs responding to the coronavirus have circulated many networks and social media timelines, giving compelling visuals to the narrative that we all collectively share.
“This is what Makati feels like now,” says Vir Ascabano, a photographer who put to together a video of the financial stronghold in the time of the quarantine. Rendered in the more dramatic scope of nightfall, the video of snippets taken from his errand runs and from the roof deck of his condo that he posted on Facebook reveals the city as we barely know it: unusual, uncrowded, and undisturbed. Meanwhile, Mayk Juat stitched together Makati in the time of a community quarantine, but this time, at the crack of the day, with the embers of the morning sun warming up the city replete of its usual bustling activity.
A similar approach was taken by Facebook user, Dmitry Berdynk, who asked: “When was the last time you heard birds singing in your urban area?” before taking us on a breathtaking birds-eye-view journey of a visibly pristine Bonifacio Global City in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, in Talisay, Negros Occidental, their coverage for the highly involved response to the coronavirus crisis was shot as if it were expertly-graded, provocative scenes straight out of an auteur’s masterpiece like say, the enigmatic Wong Kar Wai. Seriously, the stills are a cinematographers dream: evocative, pulsating, and dramatic.
More than the element of aesthetic laced with the visuals, which clearly essays the story of day and night change to a stirring effect, it still doesn’t stray from the main purpose of accounting the efforts being done to curtail the spread of the virus, as well as champion the unsung heroes boldly holding the fort of the front lines in these unprecedented times. You see, the world may not be the same, but it sure won’t dampen the indefatigable spirit and tenacious grit of a creative, whose persistent artistry now carries an enduring duty to history unraveling.
