An Alphabet of Isolation

Images in the time of Coronavirus: An Alphabet of Isolation

April was spent in some form of isolation, mainly self distancing at home, so when my sister and her husband mentioned a photography challenge, namely the A-Z of Isolation, I was in.

The rules were pretty simple:

  1. one photo for each letter
  2. nothing that need too much of an explanation – eg. A is for…
  3. only inside photos or photos in the garden – nothing further afield

Choices, choices, choices

I tried to capture things that meant something to me during this time of isolation. It was a good project to be involved in, along with other family members. My sister and her husband are now compiling the photos into a magazine/book so we have something to look back on from this time.

We’ve also been sharing some of our shots on Instagram, my sister and brother-in-law in strict A-Z sequence, me all over the shop!

My A-Z of Isolation – in case you can’t tell from the photos

A is for Autumn

B is for Bluey and Bingo

C is for Catch-up chat

D is for Deb’s World

E is for Emu

F is for Fire

G is for Gerbera

H is for Heart

I is for Inside isolation

J is for Jigsaw

K is for Kite

L is for Lamp

M is for Morning Tea

N is for Nice smelling rose

O is for Orange sunnies

P is for Postcard

Q is for Questions

R is for Rainbow

S is for Slippers

T is for Tree

U is for Under the Umbrella

V is for View of the vines from the verandah

W is for Wonderwoman

X is for X-stitch

Y is for Yellow

Z is for Zoom meeting

How it worked

I found it helpful to keep notes of what I was planning on taking photos of, but some letters were much harder than others – see N above!

My husband was also in the competition challenge, and kept stealing my ideas, although he accused me of taking his shots (jigsaw). We never articulated to each other what we were taking photos of for each letter, we wanted to be surprised each week! He loved taking photos of me in unusual and unflattering poses as I was exercising (for his X photo -don’t worry he’s a Mathematician) and doing yoga (for his Y photo) – maybe we’ve spent too much time together in lockdown lately!

So every Sunday night we would all get together on Zoom and share our photos from the week. Some people took the photos in order but others (like me) were all over the place, I like to think of it as ‘when creativity struck’.

In all we had my husband, sister, brother-in-law, mother, nieces, great-neices, cousins and daughters (for some of the time) involved at any one time. It was a great way to stay connected, think outside the box and have some fun being creative – although I’ve decided I’m quite a literal person.

Thanks to my clever sister and brother-in-law for the idea and for inviting us into their challenge.

Our next project is photos of numbers 1-12, only without using numbers.

How was your April in lockdown spent, did you get up to any challenges during this time?

Deb 🙂


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49 Replies to “An Alphabet of Isolation”

  1. Hi Deb – Wow! what a nice idea! Lovely!
    My April was spent locked-in (I prefer that term) and I was busy with the A to Z Blogging Challenge.
    India is slowly opening up. A gamble of sorts like in every other country. Hope everything goes off well.
    #MLSTL
    My latest blog post: Mask shaming

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Pradeep, I read your mask post and enjoyed hearing for the differences to our experiences here where not many wear masks. I am glad to hear India is slowly opening up for you and yes I agree, it’s all a bit of a gamble.

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  2. I love this idea Deb and what a great way to keep the family bonded from afar. I’ve not heard of it before. I mean, I’ve heard of photo challenges but not sharing them and ‘keeping the memories’ which I think is lovely!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Hi Deb I loved the family AtoZ Challenge and enjoyed your photos. What will the Numbers one be? 🙂 Ethan and I played a game where we would select a letter of the day and find 5 things starting with that letter. We would photograph and write the word and send to each other. I think it is a lovely way to stay connected and also keep our brains working! Thanks for linking up at #MLSTL and have a beautiful day, my friend. x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s such a lovely activity to do with Ethan Sue, I’m sure you both enjoyed it! The numbers one is photos of 1-12 things without using actual numbers. It’s been quite hard!

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  4. What a fabulous family game to play Deb – and I love the idea of a photo book to compile it all in and look back on. There are some great ideas out there on how to keep sane during all this lockdown time.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. So clever. Bravo to you and your sister and BIL. I guessed most everything right, struggled with gerbera, although I am familiar with them. Guessed X stitch. I like that you didn’t give the description with each photo. Made it fun for the reader to figure out each photo.
    Have enjoyed following Deb’s ABC adventures with her grandson. We have been doing a scavenger hunt over here, sending pics of things we find in nature.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for your comment Leslie, I’m glad you managed to guess most of them and had fun doing so. I love the various ideas us grandmothers are doing and sharing our challenges with each other. Take care and enjoy your scavenger hunts.

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  6. Great challenge Deb, really like it and such a good way of showing what life is like currently and also having some fun. May challenge Jo with this, she’d find it a bit stressful I reckon which might be funny.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Great photos (especially love N!) I’ve got a similar thing going on my my grandson Leo, we both have to find 3 things that start with the same letter and send pictures of ourselves with them. Today is Q and I am struggling, goodness only knows what a 3 year old will come up with!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Deb, so glad you also liked N :). I have heard a few grandparents are doing something like this with their grandchildren especially while isolated from them. He’s doing well for 3 years old, I had enough trouble at my age!

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  8. Thanks for engaging in the comp … I mean, challenge Deb! It’s always great to see your take on the world. The magazine features eight contributors, which I think is tremendous. The ‘Numbers by the Dozen’ project (which is what I’ve decided to call it – I think) will possibly have even more. Wouldn’t it be good if we could get a dozen of us involved?

    Liked by 1 person

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