#coronacreatives
We have been on this coronacoaster for about thirteen weeks now.
Each week I loose count, forgetting what day it is as the weekdays roll into the weekend and back out again.
There is finally some light being shed on our new normal.
We are beginning to baby-step our way out of our cocoons and live again.
In those last thirteen weeks I have found a comforting rhythm in my everyday tasks.
Learning, upskilling, rethinking, worrying, pivoting, hoping and dare I say, drinking lots of wine.
I wondered when I would ever be able to photograph something again, with weddings on hold and portrait work in the studio at a standstill.
Weeks went by where my camera lay in my camera bag, to the point where I thought I might forget how to use it!
A few months ago, I signed up to a webinar, geared towards photographers. The speakers were called Chloe Lodge and Cindy Cavanagh and they are lifestyle photographers based in the lands of eternally beautiful light (or so it seems from their images) in Australia and New Zealand. The idea they wanted to teach at the webinar was, that there is beauty all around us, even at home and in the mundane. We don’t have to go far to see lovely light and colour, especially in the simplest of things.
So out came the unemployed camera to be reemployed for a stay-at-home shoot.
A familiar surge of excitement was a lovely thing to feel as I did what I was told and looked for the light.
An old wall in the garage became interesting all of a sudden, as the sun shone through and lit up the old paint patch. The blue dishcloth that hung on the tap suddenly became this beacon of blue beauty in my kitchen.
I was reminded of why I love what I do. To take photos.
When the chance came to submit some images for a new photography magazine called This Detailed Life (images from this Covid-lockdown-time), I thought they might work well. I was lucky enough to be selected and the magazine will be available from early July 2020.
Here is their link This Detailed Life
The one they picked for their book is the steaming chicken one!
Click on this link to see those images.
The Corona Creatives.
I keep hearing about other silver linings and the good that has come from this lockdown time and I wanted to talk about how creativity seems to have been just oozing out of some people’s homes. Some of these projects are coming to a halt now that our lives are back on track but it's important to note some of the great work that has been going down.
Tim Dunk - UK
Tim is a really cool, predominantly documentary photographer who looks for a very raw and real image at his weddings.
He has created some very inspiring Facetime portraits, where he Facetimes someone and directs them to go to somewhere nice in their house or stand behind a plant or beside a window. He then snaps them with his laptop, brings that image into Photoshop or Lightroom, gives it a cool processing and transforms it into art. He presents his client with a triptych of digital images (3 images in a row). Each shoot costs just 50 pounds and 10 of that goes to charity.
Win win.
Jeremy Cowart - USA
Many people may know Jeremy Cowart from Nashville, Tennessee as a portrait photographer with a difference. This guy is on-another-level-artistic and his work is simply awesome, as in, I am in AWE of his work! He was getting similarly involved with his own take on Facetime portraits. #lovetransported was blowing up over there with hundreds of people signing up to get their portraits taken by this superstar photographer.
“In response to the global pandemic, Jeremy reimagined the traditional photoshoot into a digitally teleported experience.”
Similar to Dunk’s work, he projected his subjects onto a canvas backdrop and photographed the canvas, then manipulating it with layers and editing techniques into the deadliest piece of art. And get this, Cowart has done 750 photoshoots across 48 states and 25 countries.
From. His. Home.
Seriously impressive.
Katie Kavanagh - Ireland
Closer to home (as in a few miles away from me) is a fellow wedding photographer who hit the headlines with a gorgeous project called ‘Doortraits’. Katie, like all us wedding photographers were mostly at a standstill with our work, as the postponements sporadically appeared in our inbox.
With her corona project, Katie visited people’s homes, at a distance, and took small group portraits for them at their front door. A memento of sorts.
She also happens to live in the uber-cool area of Dublin 8 with cute cottage fronts and hipster neighbours. There was a 'no charge' policy but many were putting a few quid towards her favourite charity, www.purplehouse.com cancer support.
What a woman!
Brian Bowen Smith - USA
I was halted in my daily Insta-scroll when Brian Bowen Smith’s incredible images jumped out at me as an example of a really unique type of portrait image. This guy is another seriously famous photographer, once assisting and then being mentored by none other than Herb Ritts. Bowen Smith has such an eye. He drives around in his truck and photographs his subjects from the front seat and the window of the truck becomes the frame for the portraits. His #bbsdrivebys as he has called them are available for everyone from all walks of life with all proceeds going to people affected by the Covid crisis.
He recently drove for 16 hours to shoot Demi Moore and her entire family in a woods. The shoot took all of 30 seconds and although it’s not the most amazing portrait he has ever done, it is a moment in the life of this crazy Corona time.
Check these out, as samples of his work.
So as I come out the other side of this unprecedented time, I head into a slightly different life.
I'm excited to be back to work but I will definitely miss the amount of time I had to dedicate to new learning, attention to my business, upskilling and just figuring stuff out.
It's kind of similar to when my kids get bored and complain about it. My response it always that "it's good to be bored"! This is when new ideas come and their imagination gets put to work!
Having lots of time or our hands can give us room to be more creative. We need this.
Usually we are running around with a million balls in the air, unable to fit this creativity into our crazy lives.
Having this abundance of time has been precious for me and for others.
It's just one of the silver linings of this cloudy coronacoaster.
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