An early morning swap meet visit.

One morning I got up super early and headed out to one of my favorite swap meets here in the city. I took my camera with me and took all kinds of colorful photos. You can always find something interesting at the swap meets to practice taking photos with. Swaps meets are a great place to practice the hobby of photography. Here are a few of my favorite photos. I’m including pre and post pandemic photos from two separate shopping trips.

Four years before the first of the germ battles started I remember this early morning shopping trip to an outdoor market, and how fun that was. There were no real worries at that time, no masks, no wartime PTSD, There was some tension in the air but it was very subtle. Two men were stalking me from a distance that my husband picked up on when he wasn’t near me. Sometimes he will be checking out tools and I will be looking at things I like. I started noticing the men a couple isles into my shopping. They didn’t know I was with someone. I believe they were eyeing my camera I was shooting with. As soon as my husband came close to me and I handed the camera to him to carry, the two men left. He let them know through eye contact he was also watching them. The only time I ever had an experience like that before with my camera being targeted, was when I was shooting photos in Belize city central America years ago before I had children.

There was more food years ago when this photo was taken. Post pandemic I noticed less food for sale as well as less people selling.

Pre and post pandemic these bouncy toys were still around both times. Pre- pandemic there were a whole isle full of these. Post-pandemic there were only four that I saw in the whole market. Which makes me wonder if they were ever able to get another order in and maybe those 4 were just left over from the years before the pandemic.

Boots were there both visits, but just like the bouncy toys from before, there were more boots and more varieties of boots pre-pandemic then post pandemic.

Both visits didn’t have a shortage of bras, still lots of those. But in this shot there are many more bras available then there were post pandemic.

There were doll key chains available both visits but again, pre-pandemic there were many dolls, post pandemic, I would only find one booth with these doll key chains and there were only three left. Must be left overs from days gone by, Now key chains are everywhere but they are game characters.

More hair accessories too. Before the pandemic that is.

Here are the photos down below that were taken after the pandemic.

I hadn’t noticed a ton of red bracelets post pandemic, I don’t remember there being as many evil eye bracelets or red bracelets before the pandemic. Now they are everywhere, and huge piles of them. What has changed in the environment to make these so popular all of a sudden?

Still fruit post pandemic, but the selection is not as much and there were less stalls of fruit.

I noticed more toys like these for sale. Sensory type toys made out of materials that smell horrible when you pick them up. Like oil.

I love these purses. The leather area is always my favorite isle to walk down.

Our Little Red House

I couldn’t find any stalls that were selling real gold. In swap meets in the past they did have jewelry stands set up with gold earrings and necklaces…no more. In this shot, this is all fake gold. Careful out there, so much looks like something it really isn’t. That is another thing I have discovered since the pandemic started.

So much jewelry for sale now. There wasn’t that much before the pandemic. Lost of jewelry with the evil eye symbols, almost all the bracelets had that. Must be a new trend. So little faith, a talisman to ward off physical illness perhaps?

This old garden gnome was a little beat up but I thought it was kind of cute. A viking gnome. I didn’t buy it though.

There were more used items pre pandemic, post pandemic there were only about 10 stalls that had used items for sale. I mostly like shopping swap meets for antiques and collectables. I like the used items.

There were also plenty of shoes everywhere. There are more shoes for sale post pandemic.

Where do all these used cars come from? I believe these are just hotwheels, but where did they all come from…their not in packages.

Imagine beading all these necklaces. Someone, many someones did this all by hand. Did they enjoy making these? Did they want to? There was no artists around to speak to me.

My daughter said most of the items she recognized from an online shop called Wish. I think that’s what she said. Haven’t been to that site since the pandemic. Apparently it’s still in service.

The shop owner told us she hand painted all these hats. I have always loved folk art designs. This is beautiful we told her.

I wanted to buy some new plants but the woman I usually shopped at before the pandemic was not there post pandemic. I walked all over the swap meet looking for her. She was very kind and held a giant Spider plant for me once, the best plant I bought that lasted for 3 years. I still have it and generations of plants that were grown from it that I have shared with others.

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