Life with lockdown and moving forward

Lockdown will mean many things to many people. Many will have worked all the way through, too many to mention but it would be remiss of me not to mention the staff of the NHS, who have worked so diligently. To all those I say thank you’. Large numbers will have been put on furlough and some will end up losing their jobs, facing an uncertain future, I wish you all the best. There are those who have been ill and recovered or are slowly recovering and sadly thousands who have died.

Lockdown for me has been interesting. I have achieved so much over that time. Early, I gained my Master photographers licentiate. Something I had been working on the around 18 month and didn’t expect to complete for another 2 or 3 months.

I became much more involved with the MPA, going from someone barely anyone knew to someone, who many probably wish they didn’t know (joke). The MPA have played a huge part in how I have dealt with lockdown. Setting homework, which eventually led to me completing my Lockdown self-portrait studio project. Something that has kept me going through out lock down, improved how I do photography and helped me gain my first major award.

I regularly attended the MPA daily zoom meeting, where I met some wonderful people, who have been exceptionally helpful, in giving advise on how to move forward as a business, but more about that later.

Of course, a big source of joy has been Reggie, who as always loves me unconditionally, though biscuits are always appreciated (Reggie is my dog) and helped keep me going, walking him in the park each day.

I various friends have been a huge support during the whole of lockdown, chatting either online or in the case of the dog walkers 2 metres apart.

I have worked though out lockdown. Driving a minibus, with special needs children to school each day, along with my PA Dee.

So I have kept busy and that has kept me sane. Now though we are moving past lockdown and hopefully forward. I plan on re-opening my business soon and there will be many changes.

Over the last couple of years, I have concentrated on doing business headshots but I plan on moving more towards fine art portraiture, offering wall art to clients. I will still be offering headshots but they will be more diverse than before and higher quality.

I am currently doing my health and safety assessment on how best to deal with Covid-19 at my studio. Keeping 2 metres apart, having hand sanitiser for clients and myself at the studio. Making sure that the studio is properly cleaned after every shoot and making sure there is a gap between clients.

As I have said, I have been looking at including wall art, of various types that I will sell instead of Jpegs. This is a huge change for me but an image is best appreciated large on a wall, instead of on a computer, forgotten most of the time. Also, because computer monitors do not display the same, the images will often not be colour corrected, like a print would be. I want to give the best quality images possible to my client, work that stands out and be enjoyed by the viewer.

I have realised, that I am still at the beginning of my journey and I have far to go but with some luck, skill on my part and the help of many. Fingers crossed, the best days are yet to come.