Well, things have started kicking off in Europe as authorities start to take more draconian measures, rightly so.

I’ve been out and about trying to capture some news photos of what’s going on…and perhaps this will also inspire you to do the same (although no need to take unnecessary risks). In this blog post I’ll discuss some of what I’ve been up to in the past few days while following this huge story.

Supermarket panic buying

Headed over to the local large supermarket over the past few days to see if there was any commotion and sure there was. Lots of talk of “toilet paper wars”…but here in Madrid, at least, it was quite civilized. Whoever fights over toilet paper should automatically win the “Golden Turd Award”. Here’s two I captured yesterday:

This could be anywhere in the world but the fact that one can read Spanish writing helps to identify the location. I’ve also clearly identified the location, of course, within the metadata.

Some people taking precautions in the centre of town

Invested some hours at Puerta del Sol in the heart of Madrid to see if I could capture some people wearing masks. Only Asian tourists and the odd local. Some have started selling:

Traffic is slowing down

School’s out and people are being encouraged to work from home. Naturally, a normally super busy 4-lane highway would have had almost bumper-to-bumper traffic. Not so much this morning. You can see on a normal day and today (March 12):

Composites are selling regularly

Just one Shutterstock, my set of Coronavirus downloads is doing well. In just two weeks 71 downloads…mainly for subs with the following my best-seller:

Some popular keywords / concepts to use

I’ve done some brainstorming and the following are currently trending:

• Social distancing
• Wash your hands

Steve Heap is also writing about Coronavirus

Check out some of his valuable material here.

I’m off to Portugal

Rumours are that they will be shutting down Madrid soon in similar fashion to Milan. So i’m off to safer shores. Of course at the airport I’ll arrive early and try to capture some of the action.

Stay safe everybody!

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About Alex

I’m a Coronavirus refugee heading to Portugal. Stay safe.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography