The Fstoppers Daily Diary While Quarantined in Puerto Rico

Like much of the world, Lee and I have found ourselves in mandatory lockdown in our home. During this uncertain time, we thought it would be interesting to record our thoughts, experience, and predictions in a daily diary that we can reflect on years from now. We welcome you to our Coronavirus Journal.

More than a week ago, the governor of Puerto Rico issued an island-wide curfew from 9 pm to 5 am every day and told all of us we were not to leave our homes, or else we'd face a $5000 fine and/or potential jail time. Just two hours later, that curfew was upgraded to a full 24/7 mandatory lockdown that prevented us from leaving our homes at all unless we were buying food, medicine, or needing to visit the bank. Needless to say, this mandatory quarantine put a big damper on our normal photography-related work. 

For the first few days, like many of you might be experiencing now, Lee and I basically did nothing but watch the news and slowly started to sink into a depressing state of paranoia. We literally did nothing for the first 48 hours. As we settled into the third day of our 14-day house arrest, we decided to get off the couch and be productive. As we brainstormed ideas, we decided it could be interesting to document the ever-changing world caused by the novel coronavirus sweeping across the globe and record some sort of diary that we could reflect on years or even decades from now.

What would happen during these early stages of this horrible outbreak in America? Would millions of people die? Could our entire economic world collapse? Would governments around the world implement radical laws and measures as they tried to fix the panic and fear building among their citizens? How would we navigate our own financial worries, protect our businesses, and look after our mental health during such a scary time? And perhaps the most interesting question would ultimately be "did we as a society overreact to the largest pandemic in modern history or did we take the necessary steps to lead our panicking world to a place of future prosperity?"

Episode 1: Lockdown in Puerto Rico

Obviously, this diary we are creating on the Fstoppers YouTube Channel is not the normal photography content our readers have come to love. We are currently experiencing day nine of our quarantine and have filmed six episodes (which you can watch on this playlist). I'm honestly not sure what will ultimately happen throughout this process, but so far, it has been an interesting journey in the short week we have been producing these videos and conversations. Nothing is scripted, everything is honest fears and worries, and I'm sure we are bound to cover a lot of topics. 

Episode 6: How to Prepare for Your Future

Last night, on March 23rd, we filmed perhaps our most uplifting conversation, as we talked about how people can and should start spending their time in quarantine, working through what their career aspirations are and how to begin planning for a life free of corporate employment. Maybe you are already a full-time photographer or videographer, but maybe you are only working part-time and are scared about your financial future. Hopefully, these open conversations about how we transitioned from part-time photographers to full-time photographers will not only ease your mind but also inspire you to work towards the future you want for yourself. 

At the moment, I'm a little worried that this 14-day quarantine is going to be extended even longer as we shelter ourselves from the SARS Cov-2 virus. Hopefully we can find a way to bring guests in on these conversations and explore some of these topics with other entrepreneurs and friends in the photography world. In the end, Lee and I are creating this journal for ourselves, but we are quickly getting a lot of feedback that people are not only enjoying these conversations but that it has actually been therapeutic in some ways, as we all try to find comfort during these uncertain times. 

Stay safe, everyone. Wash those hands and cover your coughs, and hopefully, we can end this horrible pandemic together even as we remain quarantined alone.