Photographing a pandemic -

Maarten Holl, Collections Photographer and Media Creator, Te Papa

The eerie silence of a city in lockdown was not something I ever thought I would experience, let alone photograph.

But that’s where I found myself during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. Wandering the deserted streets of Wellington with my camera – a strange and somewhat surreal experience for someone, who for the last 30 years had largely photographed people for newspapers and magazines, before moving to Te Papa Tongarewa as a collections photographer.

During lockdown I found myself in the strange position of collecting images for Te Papa of empty streets, abandoned motorways and the ever present yellow and white public messaging that blared from every street corner. On my daily walks I no longer focused on people, as was the norm during my media career, but on the emptiness of a city in lockdown. I captured what I felt - a quiet and sometimes lonely uncertainty.

To see more examples of Maarten's photographic work during the lockdown, see here.