Staying home | week four of social distancing

I have not felt very motivated or inspired to pick up my camera over the last four weeks, but here are some photos that I did take while my family has been practicing social distancing.

It’s been one month since my family left the house together and went out in public. We went out to a restaurant to eat breakfast for my middle son’s 14th birthday and went to a few local stores in the little town nearby to buy some gifts. My children have not been out in public since then.

I got on my laptop this morning to blog a birth that I photographed a few months before all of this happened and it just did not feel right… It does not feel right to try to do any of my usual business work. However, I do get a sense of normalcy when I do things like blog, update my website and send business emails. Unfortunately, things are far from normal.

I really miss working! (the governor of Pennsylvania has deemed photography to be an unessential business) I miss photographing babies and families and I’m heartbroken over the sessions I was scheduled to photograph that never happened. I missed two births for the very first time in a decade of being a birth photographer and although the circumstances are out of my control, it was still so hard that I could not be there as planned. (our local hospitals only allow Mom to have one person with her during delivery)

I’ve missed many other sessions, however, I know this is all for the safety of their families and mine. I also know that this pales in comparison to what others are dealing with all over the world…

However, other than the loss of work and income, it’s almost hard for me to admit that the last four+ weeks have not been too hard or different for my family. My husband was laid off of his job two months prior to COVID and my children are homeschooled so we’re used to being together at home often. Although we do miss our classes at the local museums and other extracurricular activities!

And I usually work from home (except when I am doing actual photo sessions once a week) but I miss having the option to go to a cafe or library with my laptop to get my work done away from the house.

Most of all, I miss seeing my friends and family.

While under these “stay at home orders”, I feel very lucky and privileged to live on a 100-acre farm. We may not own this land, but we have been fortunate enough to call it home for the last nine years and my family is pretty content staying here at home. We have a lot of land to play on, walk and explore. We have ponds to fish, canoe and kayak in and we have a greenhouse and gardens to plant seeds in. I honestly could not imagine living in a city or apartment where we were unable to be outside.

I wish I had some wise words to wrap up this blog post, but I will end it with, stay well. I know so many people are struggling right now, so let’s hope and pray that this all ends very soon.

I really look forward to life getting back to (a new) normal and I look forward to photographing families again!

Although I do not feel comfortable “marketing” my business during this time, I am still receiving inquiries and planning sessions for when this is all over! If you need a birth, newborn, fresh 48 or family session in 2020, please get in touch and we can begin planning your post quarantine session!