5 frames with an Olympus XA, Kodak Gold 200 and COVID-19 – By Davis Poon

After COVID-19 hit Canada, forced my university online and sent me back home in March, like everyone else I found myself having lots of time at home but not much to do. Early on I found myself doing anything to keep active, and one of those things was biking. Convenient enough, I had just acquired an Olympus XA which fit perfectly in my pocket! As I biked around my hometown with a 35mm compact and a roll of Kodak Gold, I wanted to document how COVID has shaken up the community. All these photos were DSLR scanned and edited by myself in Lightroom, which is why the colours might not be perfect!

The first picture is of a mini playground at my friend’s complex. It was the first time I noticed the yellow caution tape around anything because of COVID, something I’d see a lot of later on.

The second picture is at the bridge entrance of a little fishing village at the edge of my city. A little unknown and really quirky, this is a great hidden photo spot. Usually we’d be able to cross the bridge and walk by all the houses, but not in today’s age.

The last three pictures were taken during one of the first few times I met up with friends after coming back. I met some friends at our usual spot – our old elementary school, although this time was different. Aside from only being able to sit and talk in lawn chairs six feet apart, the playgrounds and fields were all taped up. Everything was a little surreal when I took these.

Overall, I’m really happy with how the images came out. This was my second roll and first time shooting colour out of the Olympus XA, and I think it performed great. As someone who loves rangefinders and manual controls but wanted something easier to shoot than my M2, I found that the XA has a perfect balance between manual and automatic features. Kodak Gold shot at +1 also gave some pretty pleasant colours, not bad for a cheap film!

As to the pictures themselves, it is crazy to see the effect COVID has had on our everyday lives. While I’m glad we’ve been able to (sort-of) adapt so far, I know that there is still a long time until we can go back to the old “normal”.

Thanks for reading!

Davis Poon

My Portfolio

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