Coping during a pandemic photographers edition 2020

Who knew when we brought in the new year that a few months into it we all would be locked away in our own homes, unable to see our family, friends and finding toilet paper was like gold dust.

For most people it was torture with endless amounts of boredom and so much you can watch on Netflix but from my point of view in terms of a photographer this was an opportunity, most people think "how?"

From what I see is it gives us that time to really explore our surroundings of this place we call home, what we have accumulated over the years of furniture, nick nacks and that one questionable item in your home, you're not sure where it came from or when you got it but it's always been there. For some people they find comfort in their home, a place where they hold sentimental parts of their life, for some it is easy to remember that moment and trying to explain that to others sometimes isn't enough, others rely on psychical evidence to show that moment a narrative to try and understand the emotional side of someone and connect with them.

When I went into isolation I found it difficult to photograph things of what I found interesting in my home that others will too, even tried to do some abstract self portraits, what I did notice that my mum had some flowers in a vase , soft pinks with white and red, also the lighting was perfect, slightly over casted but bright (as a photographer you learn that the sun isn't your friend at times)

Then it wasn't until my sister told me about this photography project going on, on instagram where a photographer wanted amateur photographers to take pictures of topics that they post every week, with this I grew my following (to a small amount) by looking at the other artists and seeing what their take was on the said topic that week, also found it rewarding as people gave their view on the image pros and cons which helped me in future images as I also did for them.

The topics ranged from Self portrait to looking out of a window, something living but not human, textures and there was so many in between it was a really good motivator for someone who maybe stuck in a creative block, it made me feel like I was back in university again with a new topic to explore and also I was able to put into practice all the skills I learned back then.

I decided to take the leap and turn my passion into a business, by re-updating my instagram and more business appropriate for future clients as well as create a facebook page, by promoting my soon to be business on my personal social media accounts, I did get some engagement but not as much as I'd liked. I do get the odd client but with the pandemic going around it's a little difficult but hopefully with the new year coming I will try to push my business further out there and help me improve my skill set and grow clients, so please share my socials to your friends and family, it really helps me out and your supporting a dream of mine.

But for now just keep doing what I'm doing :)

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