With millions of creatives stuck at home during lockdown, many have struggled keeping their creativity alive. In ‘Lockdown Stories’, I have asked creatives to share their stories.

Dwayne Bickersteth

Freelance Photographer, Graphic Designer & Journalist

Q: What do you work with?

I used to work in a hotel, but have been placed on furlough since March. In my spare time, I am a freelance photographer, graphic designer and journalist.

Q: How did the lockdown affect you, on a professional level, as well as personally?

I have used a lot of my spare time during quarantine to focus on personal projects; updating my photography portfolio, collaborating with other creatives and trying to keep as productive as possible.

Lockdown initially was liberating because I suddenly had all the time to start and finish projects that would have been harder to do if I was still working full-time. I’m an introvert, which is common among creatives, and I gain energy from being alone and giving myself the space to develop my ideas into something more concrete, rather than rushing to tell other people about what I’m working on.

From a professional point of view, lockdown allowed me to hone my photography, developing a distinctive style.

Q: Do you think that the lockdown, or the current situation in general, has had an impact on your creativity?

Definitely. I used to rave a lot before the lockdown forced night businesses to close. Within my creative scene, Covid-19 has had huge detrimental effects. DJs and MCs, in particular, have struggled because their way of making a living has been destroyed and left them in limbo as to whether they can return to the music industry in its depleted state.

I used to shoot music gigs and go to studio shootings too, and having these constant places where I could shoot get taken away has been tough mentally, but it did put some things into perspective for me about the people I want to associate myself with in the future.

I cannot see the current situation changing drastically anytime soon.. I expect Covid-19 to still be a major worry globally going into 2021. Things will never return back to how they were before the pandemic and for me, and the creatives that I associate with, the uncertainty about the future is disheartening.

You can visit Dwayne’s Website here.