Coming up on the five year anniversary of one of the defining moments of the century so far, the worldwide COVID pandemic and subsequent fears, losses, lockdowns, quarantines, search for surrounding) the vaccine. There was so much confusion, so much change, so much pain and horrific impact on us as people, our communities, and our livelihoods. Despite -- or perhaps due to -- the extreme difficulty and real and imagined challenges, there also arose a sense of togetherness and newness worldwide.

People came together to help, the support of medical care workers worldwide was invaluable, and many people worldwide tried to do their parts with masks, social distancing, staying at home, and respecting imposed lockdowns and quarantines. All of us are lucky to have survived this, although many of us have experienced firsthand the toll of the virus and concurrent illnesses, as well as the fear and mental anguish of losing loved ones and our old ways of life.

Now, five years later, things have mostly returned to normal but the world has certainly changed. Although it is fading, the memory of the shutdowns and stay-at-home restrictions is still fresh for many of us. I had the chance to photograph some of this, photos of Europe in lockdown, and that is where this book came from. These photos are from the lockdowns in Paris, France; Santorini and Crete, Greece; Venice, Italy; and Barcelona, Spain that started when the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and the subsequent announcement of a pandemic and the resulting lockdowns.