The Year Of Social Distancing
First off, I hope you and your family are doing well and staying safe in this crazy pandemic time! Start us off with a little background about yourself.
What’s up fam! Appreciate you inviting me on your platform to talk, share my story and what’s been going on in my life; how I’ve been handling/approaching things as a creatively and mentally.
My name is Martin Moore and I’m a YouTuber and Commercial Photographer for Koss Headphones. I currently live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and share my experience living in this city through my Vlogs on YouTube.
I also shoot all of the commercials and product/lifestyle photography for the company I work for Koss Headphones who’s World Headquarters is here in Milwaukee. We make a wide-range of Professional, Bluetooth and Fitness Headphones, Ear-Buds and Speakers. I get to shoot all that stuff, and it’s pretty dope. Def my dream come true and feel blessed to still be working right now, albeit in a capacity very different these days.
Have you been able to cope well with all that is going on?
It’s been difficult man that’s for sure.
Like most people my life has been flipped upside down and my day to day is now a dichotomy of what it was a month ago. My schedule used to be jam packed with Photoshoots, Videoshoots, Podcast interviews. I have (had) a radio show, Speaking Engagements, Networking Events, Meetings - And now, I never leave the house and just play COD Warzone 24/7. Lol
No matter how disjointed my life may seem right now or how empty things feel at the moment, I’m healthy, I’m safe, I still have my job and I’m truly thankful for that.
There are too many people right now who have already lost their jobs, in many cases businesses they’ve spent their life building, in some cases people have lost the most precious thing of all - their life. So I’m just trying to be thankful, stay optimistic and help where I can. If that means buying up gift cards to my favorite bars and restaurants and shops, or hopping on Zoom and helping a local business or creative figure out ways to generate revenue/stay relevant during these times; I’m just trying to be as selfless as I can right now and do my small part to help where i can.
What are some things you're doing to past the time and keep your mind off the Coronavirus noise?
You know it’s tough, EVERYTHING is about Coronavirus. And we’re getting news and information minute to minute - it’s hard to NOT pay attention and not wanna know what’s going on at all times. Coronavirus news has become ubiquitous and it’s almost unavoidable.
I’ve been playing an inappropriate amount of COD Warezone. They couldn’t have released that game at a more convenient time..lol
I’ve been doing #MyQuarantineStory IG Stories every single day on instagram.com/martinmoorejr, that’s really been the only creative outlet I’ve had. My radio show has been suspended and we’re not doing photo/video shoots at Koss, so trying to stay creative has been a challenge. What really sucks is I just sold all my gear and switched to a Nikon Z6 a month ago, and haven’t had a chance to really have fun with it and all the new lenses..lol
I’ve also been doing A LOT of Zoom hangouts with friends and family. Those have been a lot of fun and a game changer mentally.
I was born in 1980. I was 21 when 9/11 happened, and I was 28 when the Recession happened. As *ucked as those times were; this, right now, feels so much more substantial on every single level.
The other day I thought about what would Planet Earth had done had this virus his 15 or 20 years ago, before the Internet was what it is today. Before social media and FaceTime. Before GrubHub and grocery pickup. Before Netflix or the ability to work from home.
Right now, people and businesses are surviving physical and mentally because of the internet and all the innovations we’ve created over the last 20 years to connect, work, do business and make our lives easier.
Could you imagine if we this was happening in 1995 or 2000 - everything stays as is - how absolutely *ucking screwed we would all be. I mean really step back and think about the timing of this virus, and how we’ve used technology and the internet to stay alive and stay humming as best we can. The timing is just remarkable and thank god it’s 2020 and not 2000. Now hit me with an #OkBoomer...lol
I feel like since mostly everyone is unable to do photo-shoots with other people or collaborate in bigger groups; it has either, hindered some creatives output totally, or for some creatives it has given them the opportunity to expose their versatility in the "Creative Entrepreneur" market space. Has "social distancing" been beneficial to you or not? Keeping the loss of business revenue aside. I know we're all hurting in that department.
You’re totally on point. I think one thing this whole pandemic has exposed is how unprepared a lot of us were personally and on the business side. So many creatives and businesses put all their eggs in one basket, and when that basket got flipped over, for many, it’s been impossible to keep filling it.
When ever I do speaking engagements on Personal Branding or running a Business I always ask the question:
“What social platform are you most successful on? What would you do if tomorrow it disappeared? Could you still run your business? Would you still be relevant?”
And if the answer is “No” then now is the time to start exploring new ways to be creative, run your business, generate revenue and stay relevant. And that goes for brick and mortar businesses as well - and we’re seeing what is happening when you take away the only opportunity they’ve created for themselves to make money.
And that’s not shade by any means - nobody thought the NBA and MLB or every bar and restaurant was going to close. What I mean by all that is; where is their opportunity going forward in all of this?
Seeing my local movie theater do carry out movie nights where you can pickup popcorn, dinner and snacks and continuing to try and stay afloat is inspiring. Seeing DJ’s do Facebook LIVE shows and throw their GoFundMe link at the bottom is innovative. Seeing my friend who owns a bar create a carry out cocktail menu where you buy the booze and it comes with drink recipes you make yourself is creative. Seeing F1 having it’s actual drivers compete against each other using their actual characters on PS4 is awesome. Seeing photographers do “drive by shootings” as they stay in their car and shoot families and models from a distance with a zoom lens is both funny and hella smart.
So to answer the question “has Social Distancing been beneficial to me?” - I guess I haven’t really thought about it or cared because it’s been beneficial to my friends, family and other creatives I know who are struggling. Again, at the moment I’m doing fine, so my focus has just been solely on what can I do to help those who are struggling find an alternate path through all this. So I guess in away you could say social distancing has been beneficial to me in that regard.
We rarely dip into the "political world" but curious to know your thoughts on how the Coronavirus situation is being handled?
Poorly. That’s all I’ll say on the political side.
The ones who will get us through this will not be our Federal and State Government or our leaders who didn’t take this seriously, waited too long or blew this off as the flu, the ones who will get us through this is everyday citizens of the world.
Helping where you can, when you can. Donating where you can, when you can. Supporting each other and businesses in whatever capacity that looks like for you is the how we will all get through this together. Us as individuals have more power and influence over the outcome of any situation we’ve ever found ourselves in that Government ever will.
Here is as list of things you can do to help right now whether you have money or not:
• Start GoFundMe’s for Families and Businesses
• Offer a photo shoot for local bars/restaurants who are now creating online menus
• Buy gift cards to your favorite local bars, restaurants and shops even if it’s $5 or $100
• Don’t need the stimulus because you haven’t been financially affected? Make a list right now of what businesses and families you want to support so on DAY 1 you can funnel your entire stimulus back into your city
• Help Sew Masks
• Help friends and family looks for jobs
• Hop on Zoom and offer your experience and advice to other creatives and businesses to find ways for them to generate new revenue
• Check in with friends and family you know have issues with mental health and depression
• Volunteer
• Go through your house and donate to Goodwill
• Tip. Tip. Tip.
What is a quote or saying you'd like to leave us with that could help brighten someones day?
Nothing lasts forever.
This will pass, it’s inevitable. It’s a mathematical certainty.
How we come out at the end will be determined by our capacity as Human Beings to be selfless, empathetic, sympathetic and most importantly generous; with our time, our money, our resources and our relationships.
Stay positive. Stay optimistic. Stay smart. Stay safe. Stay creative, and continue to find ways to thrive, help others and realize that even though you’re only one person - your impact on this outcome is monumental, because we’re all in this together.
Much love UG.
