After a bewildering two-thirds of the days in March when about 95% of my upcoming photography work was cancelled or postponed, I spent a few weeks processing my feelings and figuring out a way forward.

Knowing that I needed to stay creative, I tried photographing local business heroes in a ‘Lockdown Workers’ project; you can see this work here. I loved interacting with the independent shopkeepers and workers but as it was me contacting everyone, explaining the idea, and arranging the shoots it turned out quite tricky. Everyone who was working was just so busy!

One of the things I was most gutted about missing were the family portraits in the summer. I love providing clients with beautiful portraits for their homes and it was breaking my heart to think that this wouldn’t be happening this year. I saw some photographers in the US were offering ‘front porch portraits’ and that it was catching on over here so I decided to put it up as a digital product on my website and see what happened. The doorstep portraits were also a way of raising money to support Paxton House, where I shoot a lot of my summer portraits.

The uptake was overwhelming; families wanted a reminder of this special time together, even though there were no hairdressers available!

What was most remarkable though were all the stories. People had more time to chat so I heard about missed weddings, holidays, brand new babies born, being ‘locked down with gran’, and all the different work situations.

I think the pandemic has made everyone slow down, reflect, and appreciate their loved ones even more.

Also, check it out - so many pets! The rabbits, the cats, the neighbour’s cats, the ferrets, and of course the dogs. (Spot the couple with 7!)

A lot of businesses are still suffering, it’s been a long year and I hope friends and colleagues in weddings, events, and entertainment can make it through. Stay creative, stay positive, and stay healthy x