Picture this...
Hello all,
Another blog today and it's a great one about the pandemic from a different perspective. From behind the lens of a portrait photographer. Camilla has managed to capture some fantastic photos of the commUNITY family over the years and today she gives us her take on what this time has meant to families and the family portrait!
--We’re living in a very new world, and yet it is probably getting very old, very fast. The leaves are falling quickly, the temperatures are dropping, and a long winter of Covid-curtailed events is looming. How do all areas of our family lives find the resilience to keep evolving? There’s no simple answer, but in my world, as portrait photographer, you simply make the best of what we’ve been given, and then you make it a little better.
I’m lucky enough to photograph people. In all their iterations. One of the things I’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic is that our appreciation of family runs a little deeper. We don’t take the simple things for granted anymore. That translates into photography as well.
Some people quite naturally dread the annual family photo. I can’t blame them, sometimes I dreaded being on the other side of the camera too. But then, when the pandemic started, I spent several weeks shooting family porch portraits in collaboration with a client, to raise money for local food banks. @thesilverliningproject. People embraced this project! Now a family photography session becomes more of a fun event. And these little sessions were a great diversion from the daily routine of trying to sort out at-home schooling, working and parenting (moms - you know what I’m talking about.) Masked & unmasked, we tried to find a creative and fun way to mark this moment in time.
Seven months in, and the shift in attitude continues (and I love it). You don’t need to dread something that has become more of an event and far more fun to do. You can take your time planning your new favourite outdoor location! Most people before March 2020 didn’t ever have the time or opportunity to explore this amazing city and all of its unexpected little jewels of beauty. You can plan your photos around a new favourite family activity like biking or walking with the new pandemic puppy, or come winter, skating and skiing. Family photos never had to be staged or strained affairs, but now, more than ever, I think people are realizing that this translates more naturally into the new reality.
As the weather gets colder, photography can flourish indoors as well. Our homes have had to stretch and expand to include work & study places, quiet spaces, and shared family oases. (I got there in the end). And when I photograph a family indoors (masked up, disinfected and armed with a multitude of lenses that ensure some distance between myself and my clients) , I get to see these families in new and interesting ways that reflect the heart of their home.
When all of this is over (and it will end), when we have just these photos to remind us of this time, we’ll remember how different and how special this time was. There are many things we have to look forward to this winter, and many new adventures await. My sense of appreciation for my family has never been deeper, and I’m sure that I’m not alone in this.--
Camilla Pucholt
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