Marlow photographer's images of town during lockdown

Emma Watts, who celebrates her eighth anniversary as a photographer this month, has been taking photos of the abandoned High Street, rainbows drawn by children to support the NHS and 'closed' signs in the shops following the pandemic.

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The photographer has called the project 'Marlow Lockdown Life', and she hopes ‘the pandemic is something that will never happen again in our lifetime.’

Members of staff at Longridge (photo by Emma Watts)

One of the many rainbow signs for the NHS workers (photo by Emma Watts)

A family enjoying lockdown (photo by Emma Watts)

Marlow's famous Kevin and Katie Carott posing for the camera (photo by Emma Watts)

A rainbow umbrella spotted during lockdown (photo by Emma Watts)

Speaking to Free Press, Emma said: “I’ve been going out for my daily walks since lockdown started and saw there were lots of signs in the windows of shops saying they were closed because of coronavirus, as well as seeing the High Street being quiet, then the rainbows on the windows came about.

“I wanted to document it as I hope it’s something that will never happen again in our life time and one day, I’d like to show my daughter this when she’s older.

“Then one of my photographer friends in Manchester started to do doorstep portraits and it was something I saw and loved the idea of.

“I thought that would be a great idea and I knew I wanted to do that.

“I put out a message in our local residents group to see if anyone was interested.

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“People were and I started with them and as time went on, it grew as I’m now being asked if I could do stuff such as birthdays, anniversaries etc.

“It’s a project to try and keep me sane!”

Following the sudden surge of support, Emma has taken photos of people in the town whilst respecting the social distancing guidelines, as Marlovians continue to adapt to the change in routine due to the pandemic.

Many Marlow families celebrated VD Day on May 8 (photos by Emma Watts)

However, despite the sudden and huge change in everyone’s lives, Emma has praised the community spirit in the town as she believes that the virus has brought the good out of the people who live in Marlow and the surrounding areas.

She said: “There have been a group of photos that have shown the community spirit.

“For example, I was taking some photos of the owner of Satollo in Liston Court and I ended up taking photos of man who started to talk to me about stuff.

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“I will be continuing this as we stay in lockdown and if there is a post lockdown party then I’d love to document that, as I would have seen it all the way through.

“And seeing everyone together will be a nice way to finish the project.”

Click here to see all of Emma's photos and click here to see her VE Day images.