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Please don't hate me. I am not judging you if you had one done or have done them for others. I just think people haven't truly thought through this, both on the photographer side and the families getting them. I've been seeing a lot more of the photographers I look up to putting out this same message as I am, as well as medical professionals about these sessions. PLEASE read through the end.  Most people know about the porch sessions. It’s a movement started in MA by one photographer where they go to a neighborhood, assuring social distance and taking images of families on their front porch/steps. It has spread across the country. First, I want to say, it’s a beautiful gesture. At the core, it’s a nice concept. I know many who seem to have had them done and others who were doing them but shut it down as of our stay at home orders. Yet, many are still doing them. Some, just starting. I do get that it’s a nice idea. I DO. But you can STILL raise money for people by staying at home. You can still help people because literally, staying at home is saving LIVES. But, it never sat okay with me, as a regular person or business owner. I feel I need to be responsible and take the lead. I need to set an example of what to do in these times, when we are being asked to stay home. I wouldn't even go take pictures of my family if they asked right now. I am legit staying home with my sister, BIL and nephew because they were who I was around when this started. I don't even see my boyfriend, my parents, my other family members. I have watched my friends in Italy suffer, I'm now watching it here. My friends in Italy can't even go for walks anymore and it's because many didn't just stay home and go for some basic short walks. Many took advantage and "bent the rules". This is how it feels with these porch sessions. Again, I get the gesture. It's a good one. However, is it ethical, legal and how will it reflect on you as a business? Here in MA, as in many places across the country, we were asked to stay at home. Period. We are supposed to not go out on any non-essential trips besides the grocery store/pharmacy/doctor/etc. The purpose of this is to significantly reduce coming into contact with others as much as possible. It feels like people just want to push those rules. I see it when I go walk around our lake when neighbors start with a hello from 10 ft or so away and move closer to each other as they chat. I see it with these porch sessions. I’ve seen and heard of quite a few instances from bystanders that they saw them happening in their neighborhood and the person ended up close to the clients (a dog escaped from the yard and the dad and kids chased after, basically touching the photographer as they went by, a photographer going closer to talk to the clients). For people wanting sessions, please don't ask. If you ask a photographer who is feeling stressed that they won't make ends meet or just that they want to help others, they may feel more pressure to do them. You can certainly get photos with them with this is over and support them by buying a gift certificate in the meantime. Let's ALL work to keep each there safe and not doing EXTRA things that could put them or others at any risk. What if the photographer driving around to these sessions got in an accident or tripped and fell and needed medical attention. Now is NOT the time to go to the hospital or even a doctor's office so why increase the risk of that happening? You may say, well, that could happen going to the grocery store or out for a walk. YES. But, why add MORE ways that can happen and intentionally? Now, even if you don’t end up close to them, even if you don’t have anything out of your control happen (i.e. the dog incident), is it still something you should be doing? Technically, in many places the stay at home is an order, not a suggestion. So, technically, this is not legal to be going out as a non-essential worker. You may say, “But I do it for free or charity” (the part that’s super nice and beautiful) BUT, you are still working. Whether it’s for free or you’re giving the money to a good cause, you are out there doing your job. As responsible businesses owners, I’d hope we lead and not follow, that we do what is safest for our communities and clients rather than find ways around the rules set in place that are for the good of everyone. Social distancing is meant to stop us from doing ANYTHING avoidable. We need to feed our families, we need medications, we need to get gas (or not if we are staying home), we may even need to get our families out to a local park (not playground) or hike because we don’t have a yard. However, that should be done at minimum risk. We don’t have a choice in most of those things. And even in the park or hiking, it’s not the best idea as it’s hard to keep 6 feet away when everyone decided to go out on a warm day to do the same thing. This thing is spreading and it’s spreading FAST. As a Health Care Professional and photographer (Ten 2 Ten Photography) said “Viruses don’t fly through the air measuring distance and at the 6 foot mark decide “Oops, I gotta stop infecting now – I’m 6 feet away”. The fact that some people are using 6-feet as a justification for continuing to work shows that they have an inherently incorrect understanding of what social distancing is.” I trust she knows what she’s talking about as she is on the front lines. Another nurse (Jacklyn Steele or Jacklyn Steele Photography) Please remember: we are putting our health and the health of our friends and family on the line to take care of you guys. Please do us a favor and stay in. The faster everyone does their part the faster this will all be over!! Your friends will still be there when this is done As I said, these never sat right with me. I have high risk parents. I’m a slightly higher risk than the average person. Many in my life have immune issues. HOWEVER, that’s not even the point. YOUNG people are getting this and dying. This isn’t a “well, my clients and I are all pretty healthy so I’ll take my chances.” Or, I'm keeping my distance. If I were to find out that I had it and had been around clients, I would absolutely be mortified and it would most certainly affect my business. I would feel even worse if they got it. I've known people who have had to make that call and they felt so terrible having to do so. Even people who recover at home say it’s awful. It’s not a cold. It’s not the flu.
But also, Again, we are being begged by those on the front lines to stay home. That's all they ask. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do your part. We are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER and we all have to abide by the rules. We are NOT essential. Celebrate with sessions after this is over. Book sessions now for when life gets back to normal and we CAN legally and ethically feel good doing sessions. Give tips to your clients to take their own family photo on the steps and book a session for them when this is over. You can still donate to a good cause. You can still collect donations or use your art in some way to donate to a cause from home. Donate to a food pantry, give blood, sew masks or donate to those doing it. BUT PLEASE STAY HOME. PLEASE. For the health of yourselves. For the health of your clients. For the health of your community. For the health of our first responders, our heroes, on the front lines. They are asking us to STAY HOME while they put their lives at risk daily. It's the least we can do. XO Nicole
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Dear Sweet Lucas, You are so little, but something very big and devastating is happening. You have no idea. You don't see much difference as you learn new milestones and play with your toys. We are thankful for that. ✨ Someday, we’ll tell you about the time this awful pandemic spread across the world right around your first birthday. ✨ We’ll tell you about how we stayed home, just you, mom, dad and auntie and only saw others through the phone or computer for weeks? Months? Daddy still had to go to work at first. He had to remove all of his clothes in the garage and shower immediately to reduce our risk of getting anything he picked up that day. ✨ We’ll tell you how kids couldn't go to school and others couldn't work and most of the store were closed. We'll tell you how so many people helped each other get through it. ✨ We’ll tell you how much gratitude everyone got for the little things they took for granted, like a hug from someone they loved, or the ability to go have coffee with a friend or to simply see those you cared about in person. ✨ We’ll tell you about how we were scared for our health, for those we love most, for those around the world who we’d never met. How we cried for people we never knew, hearing stories of how they or their loved ones died alone, in isolation. ✨ We’ll tell you how people, isolated in their homes would play music or sing on their porches or out windows with the rest of their neighborhood, coming together at a time of pain. How people drew rainbows and messages of hope on their windows and doors, sidewalks and driveways. ✨ We’ll tell you about how the stores were bare and you couldn’t find hand sanitizer or toilet paper or pasta. How we had to stand outside some stores in lines, spaced 6ft apart. How the stores did their part to provide sanitizing wipes or sanitized the carts themselves. How when you stood in line, you had to stand behind tape to ensure a safe distance. How you saw many wearing masks and gloves as they shopped and the mood was solemn. ✨ We’ll tell you about how the lights went dark on Broadway and the city streets were bare and quiet, that there was no traffic, that the malls were empty. How rush hour looked like a Sunday at 6am. ✨ We’ll tell you about the HELPERS: the doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, the other healthcare workers, the public servants. Those amazing people who put their lives on the line to save others and who had to deal with so much mental and physical stress. We are so thankful for them. We'll tell you about people who rallied and either bought or made protective equipment for these helpers. ✨ We’ll tell you about how you took your first steps during a pandemic and you could no longer go to play at the library or playground around other kids, just when you were starting to really interact with them. But, you had us. And you had family and friends who we saw through the phones and computers. You played and learned and didn't know much different. ✨ We’ll tell you how we counted down the days until we knew your grandparents were in the clear, for now. Or how we had our own countdown for you, mom and dad, and auntie as well as the rest of those we love. Every day was one day further to feeling some type of relief, for the time being. We didn't know what was to come. ✨ We’ll tell you how the Earth had a break and there was less pollution and wildlife had more chances to live and be and how amazing that was. We had hurt the planet. We gave it a break. Planes weren't flying much, cars stayed parked, factories shut down. We stopped polluting the air, if just for a short time. The air felt fresher and thinner, in a good way. ✨ We’ll tell you how the world worked TOGETHER, how communities supported each other, how neighbors looked out for each other and how we all learned so much about what’s truly important. Many realized how we are all ONE. The Earth took a chance to remind us of this. It gave us something for ALL of us to go through all at once to see just how much we are in this thing called life together. No matter what religion or skin color or corner of the world we are from, we ALL were ONE. ✨ We’ll tell you we made it through. Many did not and we grieved for them and for our world. But those of us left, together, rose back up and built back our lives. We appreciated each other more. We looked out for each other more. We realized how precious life and freedom is. We took better care of our planet and our fellow humans. We realize we are ONE together. We made it through. ❤️ {I VERY MUCH HOPE THIS IS HOW IT GOES.}❤️
  As a photographer, who documents life, I felt a pull to document what's happening in some way. I see photographers doing the "front door sessions" but I don't feel comfortable with that. If I didn't think we'll be on lockdown soon, I'd actually rather capture people through their windows, truly capturing what their day is like. Sounds kinds creepy, haha. But I think that would truly capturing the reality now. Since I'm not doing either, I decided I'd capture our city, strangely quiet. These images may not seem odd to someone who sees the city early on a weekend morning. But, the first set was taken on Thursday between 4:00-6:00pm while the second set was Friday between 2:45 and 4:30pm. It was strange for it to take only 20 minutes to get there from my house. Even on a good day, it's longer, at high traffic times, it's 3-6x as long. It was weird to pull into the city in different areas and pull right up to a light instead of being in a long line of cars, waiting through multiple light cycles. It was strange to see normally congested streets bare, to see normally bustling areas empty. I drove around first and then parked and walked. I am overly cautious and would walk about 10 feet away from anyone who passed. There is a heaviness in the air. But I also saw many small groups of people, walking close together, laughing. It amazes me that people are still not doing what they're told. It was unsettling but also calming to walk around. It was weird to not have the hustle and bustle but it was also nice. I could hear birds chirping everywhere, there weren't horns blaring or people yelling. It was a nice time to truly view and appreciate this beautiful city. Yet, all I could think is, "𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙢 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢". Here are the images. Sullivan Square, Charlestown 4:00pm Park Street Station, 4:15 Newbury Street 4:20ishAlmost all retailers were closed and I commend companies for doing this. Signs were on all doors. I didn't get out and walk around to take pics of those but sort of wish I did. Parking was plentiful.  
Boylston Street, 5:00  Realized it was the first time to see the memorials. I was happy to get to see and capture them with no one around. Copley Square  Weird to see the countdown to the marathon being 179 days instead of under a month. Commons and Garden, 5:25ish       Second Set. Seaport on Friday afternoon.     Faneuil Hall, all stores closed.          Downtown Crossing, 3:45ish
 South Station     Broad Street Parking spots everywhere.    Gas under $2.00 I then went home. I have been with my family all week and planned to go home just to pack up what I need indefinitely (in case of lockdown) and stay with them. Doug has been isolated in his house completely since we were together last so we were safe to be around each other. He came down and we went to Houghton's Pond. It was warm yet the wind was up. It's like the Earth is responding to what's happening. Some trees were starting to bud and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the pond. I can't stop thinking about how the Earth is getting a much needed rest from us. The pollution is down, we are breathing fresher air. Wildlife will surely start to come out more (I mean I saw more birds in the city than I usually do already). While we all hold our breathe, waiting. Wondering. The Earth will take a deep breath it's needed for a long time. It will be ready for us when we come back and hopefully we will appreciate it that much more and take better care of it. Maybe that's just a pipe dream, but man, I hope...       Today, I basically made a temporary move to my sisters. I said bye to Doug as he left for home and I to NH. It was emotional for me. Even though they say we are not getting locked down, we very well may. So, who knows when I will see him. That makes me sad. It's the least of our problems but when you have a person who is one of the main people you want to be with when bad things are happening and you literally don't know when you will see them in person again, it's a bummer.
Now, my family needs to make some tough decisions. It'll be so nice when this is over. Stay safe friends. We will get through this. And support and send love to those who can't be home and are out taking the risks for us. More images hopefully to come. I did some today as well in other places. XO Nicole Things feel shaky and uncertain and a bit scary. ✨ We have never been here before. ✨ We wait each day, each hour, each minute for updates. ✨ We don't know how long it will last. ✨ We lose our daily routines, our "normal". ✨ But, what do we gain? ✨ We gain time at home; to be alone, to connect with each other, to learn how to just BE when the world stops around us. ✨ Even with the littles running around, we learn to create a new normal, a somewhat simpler life with no activities to run to or events to attend. We must learn to be with ourselves and our families around the clock. ✨ We learn to appreciate. We appreciate the craziness of getting out the door in the morning and the simplicities like going to your local coffee shop or store with no worry, a simple hug. ✨ We gain wisdom. We are seeing how one drop can ripple out. We are learning. ✨ We gain perspective. We see how our actions can directly impact others. ✨ We gain love. We watch people around the world show love, from distancing musical flash mobs on balconies in Italy, to the mounds of support shown by local people and businesses to each other. We see humanity at it's finest. ✨ We learn patience. We must or we can't move through. We will go stir crazy. ✨ We learn to connect with nature since it is one of the only places we can still go and still be practicing this isolation. ✨ We learn we have strength. It times of struggle, we must dig deep to care for ourselves and our loved ones. ✨ We hold our breath so we can all breathe better. ✨ We learn that it's about the collective and not just "ME". ✨ We learn hope. Hope for what is to come when it's over. Hope for a new beginning. Hope that so much more will come out of this that is bright and beautiful and shows that we are truly ONE. ✨ ONE WORLD. ONE LOVE. ONE HOPE. Guess what else?? We are literally reducing our carbon footprint right now. Satellite maps are showing NO pollution in certain areas with things shut down that are usually thick with it. How awesome is that?  I won't lie. I'm a little scared. I'm scared for my parents who have all three of the highest risk factors. I'm scared for all of the people who will end up with this virus and have to deal with the awfulness that we are seeing it is thanks to first hand accounts both young and old. I'm scared for our health care workers and first responders. And I'm scared for the financial hit we are all going to take that will take a bit to recoup from. I've found myself emotional at both happy and sad things. That's my go to. When nervous or confused or tired (is anyone else just TIRED right now?) or sad, I cry. But, I also have been working on staying grounded, setting up virtual coffee with friends and FaceTiming my nephew as much as possible. This is hard and it will continue to be. But we will all get through it. I wanted to share some resources for people, an announcement for something I hope to do each week and even a few recipes you may enjoy while you have time to cook/bake. First, resources! I've compiled some great things to do with kids at home and some for the adults as well! Download the Resources and Recipes HERE Small businesses will take a big hit, especially photographers and other service industries. We have no clue how long it will last but everything says, probably a couple of months minimum. So, how can you help support small businesses at this time?
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Love to you all during this time and always. XO Nicole I love to capturing families in their home, even if they want some images outside as well. Capturing your baby's nursery allows for more personal images and memories that are who you are as a family right NOW. I think it is so special to look back on images from the nursery as it was when they were tiny, how small they were in the crib, how tiny they are in your arms as you read a book. This family was referred by C's sister who is a long time client. I've loved capturing her 3 girls growing and love them as a family so I was excited to work with C and B and their super cute baby girl. We had a chilly day but everyone handled it well. I enjoyed every moment I spent with this family and making sure to get their fur baby in and I was excited to provide them with beautiful wall art for their home and gifts for their families. A few of the walls we designed are sampled below. :)          I got to meet this gorgeous family in the Fall. They have this precious little boy with the best hair. WE lucked out with a not too chilly day and were able to capture some special imagery for them to remember this special time, when he is starting to show so much personality but not quite on the move or sitting yet. I love this age. They are still snuggly but also starting with the smiles and laughs. I also love capturing both indoors and out. Enjoy.       |
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