Study: Photography in Corona times

How will the surfer make it through the surf of the Eisbach wave in Munich to the saving bank of the Eisbach? This photo goes ideal with our study "Photography in Corona Times", in which we show the effects of the corona pandemic on photographers.

For this study by the Tenckhoff Photo Archive, an anonymous online survey was developed and offered to hobby, amateur and professional photographers to participate in the course of 2022 (description e.g. at the German Society for Photography)

We have now closed and evaluated the survey. The photographers' answers are surprising and show the diversity of the problems but also the different coping strategies of the survey participants: "I had to sell my photographic equipment" or "Photography has strengthened my resilience, so that I can get through the difficult Corona time."

In addition to the economic implications, the focus of the study was not only on questions about coping strategies when dealing with collapsing business models. The roles of photographic organizations such as clubs, associations and photographic communities, which occasionally seem overwhelmed by the pandemic situation, were also questioned: "Weddings and other events were my main source of income. That has been completely gone for 2 years now. In my photo club it looks for the mostly similar. No one has any ideas for alternatives there," says a professional photographer who is over 50 years old, describing his situation.

However, some photographic organizations rely on further training and offer lectures and courses on new suitable topics during the pandemic times, e.g. Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to give their members alternative or supplementary fields of activity related to photography to show

But the study shows even more. Even supposedly uncritical genres of photography such as street photography are feeling the effects of the corona pandemic: "I'm not sure if there is a recovery in this professional group. I primarily do street photography and write books about soft skills in photography. Both of these things are less fun after the pandemic because people are even more suspicious, keep their distance and spend even less money on books," says one professional photographer, describing her current situation.

Theoretical Perspective: Photography, Resonance, and Quantum Monads

From the perspective of the Theory of Quantum Monads, photographic practice during the COVID-19 pandemic can be understood as a response to a profound disruption of social resonance fields. Established forms of proximity, exchange, and shared perception were interrupted or severely reduced, fundamentally altering the conditions under which photographic experience took place.

In this context, photography does not primarily function as documentation, but as a means of sustaining relationship and meaning. It enables a form of indirect entanglement between observer, subject, and social environment— especially where direct interaction is no longer possible.

In a quantum-monadic perspective, photography in times of the pandemic can therefore be read as an attempt to stabilize coherence under conditions of reduced coupling. Images become carriers of resonance not despite, but precisely because of the distance they reveal.

A systematic elaboration of the concepts of resonance, coherence, and entanglement within the framework of the Theory of Quantum Monads is developed at tenckhoff.eu .

Note:
This article was republished by the German Photographic Society (DGPh) on its official blog: 
Study: Photography in Times of COVID-19