FOR many of us, lockdown life has involved only going out for essential shopping, our daily exercise or seeing what snacks we have to eat.

Yet, one Winchester photographer has been capturing the city without the usual crowds of people.

As part of a special project, Michelle Quinton, who works as an admin officer for Hampshire County Council, has been photographing areas of the city on the way to work and during her lunch break.

For the past few months, she has taken pictures of River Park Leisure Centre, North Walls Recreation Ground and the ring road void of traffic and crowds.

“There is a surprising number of people out still, but it has just made me more aware of my surroundings and I wanted to share that,” Michelle said.

“It is quite fascinating to see. There is a creepiness to it because they are not places that are meant to be quiet.

“It makes people a little uncomfortable to see these places so empty.”

Michelle says her project is also highlighting how buildings and nature is surviving while we are at home.

“The planet seems to be doing a lot better without us. It is fascinating to see how everything we have built seems somehow content without us there.”

Now she has also turned her attention to businesses in the city have remained closed throughout lockdown including entertainment venues and restaurants using a monochrome effect on her photos to capture the buildings.

“I was looking in the window of Turtle Bay that influenced the monochrome, it is a place of music, of fun and laughter and conversations and a coloured picture didn’t give it the right effect.”

Michelle has also been asked to take pictures of the Theatre Royal and has even photographed the Hampshire Chronicle offices.