wales photographer

Front door portraits

Lockdown 2020

It’s Thursday 14th May and the UK is in it’s 8th week of lockdown, 8 weeks since Boris Johnson addressed the nation an announced the United Kingdom was dealing with a pandemic – Coronavirus (Covid-19) Since early January, we watched China struggling with containing the outbreak in Wuhan, and watched as the virus spread rapidly as people travelled between countries. It become closer to home as we then watched it spread through Italy and other European countries. I don’t think while we were watching we really understood the severity of this virus and what it would do to us, our loved ones, our lively hood and freedom.

It’s been a very odd year so far to say the least. We came out of Christmas with new goals, plans and things we wanted to do and achieve in 2020, places we wanted to visit and new ‘to dos’ The first 8 weeks of the year went in a flash, but was long and tiresome at the same time. The UK was hit badly with storms and flooding causing devastation to homes and businesses, but we pulled together to help our community and it’s residents with leisure centres and community halls offering safe dry places for people to sleep and food packages, comfort and support.

It basically rained for 8 weeks! Short, dark days. Even after school you couldn’t really go and get fresh air with the children. The weekends were washed out! we felt like we didn’t go anywhere for such a long time! Then it was March, we were ready for Spring and longing for longer, dry days and much needed outdoor family time. We actually used our caravan for the first time on the weekend of 13th March. We took it to Brecon and had a wonderful time exploring the countryside, while keeping an eye on the news. I am so grateful that we had that weekend away when we did. Even then it was quite unclear as to whether we would be following the likes of Italy, Spain and France and going into a complete lockdown.

The wedding industry came to a stand still back in March when the announcement was made. It’s been quite a roller coaster few weeks as venues were shutting down and weddings and other events being cancelled. I have been fortunate to have weddings move to new dates that I am available. But I have also lost work due to weddings being postponed to the same date. Some of my couples have cancelled their weddings and have’t set new dates yet. The struggle has been the same for all of my photographer friends and suppliers in the industry.

Being at home with the children 24/7 and not being able to go to school, play groups, parks and spend time with friends and family has been wonderful and challenging at the same time. Although my work has stopped, I have been making the most of doing jobs I haven’t been able to do for YEARS! For example, website updates, implementing online signing documents and card payment systems (I’m so pleased to have finally done this) There are so many online networking events and training going on, I’ve been busy making new connections. My Husband has been working from home for the past 8 weeks too. He and I have had the occasional interruption on a Zoom call from a child asking for snacks or having a wild tantrum, I don’t think we’re the only ones! I am also missing my eldest daughter who is safe and well with her Dad. Lots of Zoom calls and messaging keeping us all together as we wait for the lockdown to be lifted and she can be with us.

I thought about going out and photographing people outside their homes for a few weeks before deciding to organise it. I was in two minds about whether it was the right thing to do or not. But after thinking it through, there was no way I was going to let this opportunity pass me by. It wanted to capture a historical moment in time for the people of my community and give them something special to remember. I did this safely by adhering to the social distancing guidelines. When visiting each household, I was way over two meters away from each family and used the appropriate lens to capture these beautiful photographs. There are so many wonderful pieces of artwork and supportive messages out and about brining a comforting sense of togetherness and strong community spirit.

I would like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to all of our key workers working tirelessly throughout this unprecedented time. And my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost someone they love, may they shine bright.

Thank you for reading,stay safe.

Sian

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