For this assignment, I chose to use the state of Downtown State College as a topic for this assignment because it pertains to the now. As a local in State College and a student at Penn State University , this has an impact on me. It is really strange to see State College empty, especially in the middle of the spring because this is usually the busiest time in State College. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State University has officially moved to online classes for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester. I chose to use several different perspectives on the photographs because I wanted to capture how the entire feeling of State College during this outbreak. That’s why I chose to do more than five of my favorite images for this project. In total, I ended the project with ten of my favorite images.
Pictured above are the photographs I took of the businesses that are closed or are open. Most businesses downtown and close to campus have also taken the initiative and decided to close down until further notice or just reduce their services. While most of these companies have shut down their in store operations, some stores such as Mchlanahans are still open to the public. However, as I have noticed, their tables are blocked off by yellow caution tape with a sign in the middle stating that due to governor’s orders, they are no longer able to allow people to sit in their store to eat their food. Jersey Mike’s downtown is a similar case, only doing deliveries and take out, you can no longer eat in-store. Mclanahan’s also no longer has their sub-station open for similar health reasons. On the other hand, Bradley’s which is a local place, is closed entirely until further notice. The Tavern and other businesses around that alleyway are also closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Places such as tattoo parlors and the local blood drive (pictured above) have also been shut down until further notice, with signs posted on their windows stating that they cannot operate or in the case of the blood drive, closed down temporarily. Not surprising due to the nature of these establishments.
As I was walking downtown itself, it was fairly empty. While there were still people walking around, for the most part, students and their parents were either gone or packing up to leave the university until the fall 2020 semester. Despite the fact the surrounding areas were shut down, I saw a guy playing a piano in the shade where the gyro stand is usually set up and open. I also witnessed that the car traffic along Allen Street has increased due to the virus. CATA buses are also running, but they are also running on a limited service during this outbreak since people are no longer taking the bus as frequently. Overall, I think that this virus has affected the entirety of downtown and the community in a negative way, but I do think that we can recover from this after a while.
PhotoChronologies 