Livin La Vida Quarantine

Well hello. Welcome to Day 73 +/- of the Great Quarantine of 2020!

So hey. I did a shoot recently. Well actually, I’ve done quite a few, but we’ll talk about the others later. Trying to get 9-12 fully complete for a little project I’m doing before sharing them. 4 down, more to go.

The shoot I’m specifically referring to was the wedding of two dear friends. They called me to ask if I’d be willing to shoot their outdoor, very small wedding over the first weekend of May. I wore a mask, threw on a long lens, and got it done.

I’ll be honest - there was some anxiety involving showing up where there would be other people, most of whom I didn’t know. Once I arrived and started working however, that all faded to the back. I took the precautions I knew I needed to to keep myself safe. It was freeing to rip off the bandaid in a sense, to see that getting back to working and shooting is possible.

It was a perfect evening, and I feel so honored that I got to be a part of it. Here are some images. Enjoy.

Postpartum Prose

There is a really great thing that is happening in this day and age where not only is it considered ‘okay’ to be vulnerable, it’s actually encouraged. For someone born and raised in South Jersey in the 80’s, this is a very foreign concept. However, 15 years of living in California has worked its magic, and I’m getting much better at being open about life and the struggles that come along with it.

I had my first kid in 2015. Before then, life was moving pretty quick. I graduated from the Academy of Art in San Francisco in 2007 and immediately fell into photo work. I moved to Los Angeles in 2009 and promptly started working as a set photographer. 2014 saw an exciting move down to São Paulo, Brasil where I worked as a photographer and camera op on some incredible projects.

Then I had my son. I was back in the US. My former clients had (rightfully) moved on to other photographers, so for the first time since I began dedicating myself to photography back in 2004, I found myself with no jobs nor any leads. This was partly fine, as I was taking care of and breastfeeding a baby.

I stumbled upon a part-time job at a commercial casting studio. What started as 1 day a week quickly jumped to 4 days a week. What started out as an entry-level lobby assistant gig quickly turned into a more hands on, behind the scenes role. I missed photography, but this was a job that I was good at. I enjoyed being useful, and I relished the feeling of working on complicated projects without breaking a sweat.

Fast forward to now - another baby, another postpartum work hiatus. There is something really quite nerve-wracking about not working, especially for someone like myself that has worked since I was 14. (Yes, yes, I know, raising a baby is ‘the most important job of all’. Of course I love my children more than anything. But this isn’t a parenting website.) After the Christmas/New Year break, my husband and I have discussed either daycare for the little one or a nanny so I can go back to work. And while it would be a lot of fun to be back in the casting studio with people I really love and cherish, there are some really wonderful hunks of prime metal sitting in my closet, calling to me.

My goal is to dedicate some time a week to get back to the force I once was in photography. I have a quote saved on my desktop that says, “There are people less qualified than you, doing the things you want to do, simply because they’ve decided to believe in themselves.”