As we sit here 4 months into a Pandemic in the country worst hit by Covid-19 (in round 2 now) after capturing a month & a half’s worth of weekends of clients (as you’ve seen in the past 5 blog posts’ worth of client photographs), we’ve found that there have been some hard truths revealed within these Pandemic times. We’ve worked hard to be Pandemic Responsible and haven’t hung out with ANYone (outside of working for clients who hired us prior to February 2020 when it finally became legal in June) including any of our good friends in over 4 months. Honestly the phone calls and Zooms can never replace in-person moments with friends and loved ones. Even though we’ve been extremely responsible working our butts off WHILE still sanitizing anything that comes into our house, wearing our KN95s when around our small groups of 10 or fewer clients, fighting for racial justice, taking care of our pets, being good to our immediate families, helping others, etc., that doesn’t mean that things have been all fine & dandy.
We’ve been reminded lately while being spread extremely thin that it’s not your job to always work to teach others love, loyalty, wisdom, empathy, everything you learned in all of your earned degrees, why medical advice is important, why disrespecting those who are following protocol & SOCIAL DISTANCING is freaking awful, etc. Sometimes when you’re spread so thin you have to lock it all down and remember your priorities while cutting everything else out. Ours are top 10 Priorities in this world:
1) Our Little Family (Our Pets & Our Relationship)
Our cat Kevin is potentially somewhere between 12 and 16 years old and we’ve had him for 5 years, our dog Coco is around 6 years old and we’ve had her for 4 years, and our dog Rizzo will turn 1 year old in a month and by then we’ll have had her for 10 months-!! We rescued all 3 of these these cute mixed babies from 3 different rescues in 3 cities and they are our fur children. We’ve taken them to 6 states with us so far and have so many more adventures to take them on with us-! They’ve been a huge part of our past 6 years together and they’re our little family. Here are some photos of them that we’ve taken just in the past year:
Our personal Anniversary is coming up next month, so we are again prioritizing it and will be spending the entire day doing things together that the two of us love. We finally got around to making pottery for Jason’s first time (since back in February Jenny bought him a birthday gift of Wheel Ceramics pass for MAKE here in town and it needed to be redeemed ASAP), so we may end up making art again, getting Mexican tacos, or checking out a new park to hike in. (We also always get an Anniversary Ambrotype Portrait taken from an antique camera directly onto glass, so we also have to set up an appointment for that). ((Either way, it’ll be a lot less chaotic and stressful than last year when we only had a day or two in between each of us individually heading out to California different weeks back-to-back for the niece’s baby shower and wedding festivities)). Our puppy’s 1st Birthday is the same week AND we have a big wedding to capture right around both of those dates, but we’ll make sure to take time for our Anniversary as always.
2) Our Business
& wonderful clients. We appreciate almost all of our clients more than almost anyone else on earth. These are the people that hire us and believe in our Decade-Old business that we built from SCRATCH with cameras we bought with money from jobs that we worked prior while acquiring more educational degrees. There are NO words to accurately describe our love for our couples-! When there are some bad days, they’re often the ones who brighten up our day as we remember these relationships we’ve formed with such fantastic people (would it be biased to say that we have the literal smartest, most accomplished, hardest working, most graceful, and kindest couples…?)! Here are some photos of us from the past year On Location after/ before client Portrait Sessions- obviously most aside from these first two are from the fall prior to the Pandemic since we always mask up during the Pandemic in our KN95s. (*Per the last image: lol the year 2020 has indeed been roaring, but in a different sense of the word…)
Though a top 2 priority, Clear Boundaries (i.e. business hours, clear-cut acceptable ways to be communicated with, clear deliverables, and clear communication & expectations) are essential especially for our non-wedding clients. We bend over backwards to go above & beyond for all of our clients, but that doesn’t mean that we’re literally servants that must leave a holiday or immediate family (in from across the country for the first time in 7 months) to scurry over to our office an hour away to get on a non-urgent conference call. With the respect and work that we do to always go above & beyond of what’s outlined, we demand respect in return.
3) Our Educational Degrees
If you know us, this is an obvious one. We both pride ourselves in our educational degrees and have worked hard to obtain them without anyone else doing that work for us. No matter what our circumstances were socially, financially, physically, mentally, etc., we always pushed through to finish our professional photography, psychology, and business degrees in a timely manner and even had jobs through some of our schooling. No one can take away your accomplishments & knowledge-! We’re proud that Jenny has such a high level degree in Fine Art Photography that she can teach at a university AND that Jason was trained at the HIGHEST level of Commercial Photography. We feel very well-versed in our field and often find that we’re the highest educated in our field in a room full of professionals-!
4) Mental Health & Physical Health
Right now more than ever, it’s essential to prioritize mental health along with the physical health aspect (i.e. masks, social distancing, etc). We work hard to remain on top of all forms of health especially since Jenny was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder 12 years ago and Jason is learning better ways to cope with his aspergers (Autism Spectrum Disorder) that we finally cracked the diagnosis for a year ago well into adulthood. If you aren’t constantly working on improving per professional psychological advice and medical advice, then we highly suggest you action to find out whether a psychologist, therapist, or doctor could help you assess where you’re at and what you could improve (while giving you the highest level of educated help on how to improve those things). The Pandemic has proven pretty intensely that you can’t control the world, but you CAN work on yourself & the parts of your health that are in your control.
5) Our Immediate Families
Though they live across the country from them, we prioritize visiting with our families as often as possible- even if that is us flying out to see them once a year. Our “inner circle” is comprised of our 3 parents, 2 siblings (and their families including our niece & nephew, spouses, & 4 doggy nieces & nephews), & Jason’s grandma. For us all of these people come before others. Jenny has around 100 relatives JUST within aunts/ uncles, cousins, and cousins’ kids, so it’s impossible to keep up with everyone, but we do try to see 7 of her Arizona aunts & uncles bi-annually as well-!
6) Our ~200 Exotic Plants & Home Gardens
Yes, we do indeed have somewhere between 150 and 200 exotic plants and yes that can be difficult at times (but worthwhile). We’ve collected plants from about 5 states so far, but we do still get excited about getting a new baby every now & then. We have hopes to someday have a (literal) greenhouse extension of our future house, but for now they’re outside on our porch for about 5 months/ inside for about 7 months. Annually we also make a food garden and have probably learned to grow/ harvest about 50 types of plants over the past 6 summers AND built ourselves 2 perennial gardens during the Pandemic (which we’re adding to & perfecting every now & then). Psychology studies have shown that growing plants is good for mental health (giving one purpose and meaning) and we can definitely vouch for that. Whenever we’re feeling frustrated or in need of a pick-me-up and don’t have time to go hike, we go ahead and start gardening (of which there’s always a lot to do)-! Trust us, there’s a lot you could learn from your gardening elders and “plant people” about life.
7) Our House
4 years ago before we hit our 30s we became homeowners (after renting dorms, apartments, & houses in Ohio & California for 10 years). Though we’ve done no major renovations on our over century-old home, we do treat it with respect. We’ve adorned its walls with (literally) hundreds of pieces of vintage and new art, have furnished it with mostly darker antique hardwood furniture pieces, and have many a vintage colorful couch. We find joy in making our house a home and our cat loves his personal room (our guest bedroom). Jason has really taken to our 4 story home after having lived in California most of his life without basements or finished attics!
8) Our Best Friends
(Otherwise known as the family you choose). Our best friends have been through so much with us and we make an effort to see them annually-! We love to talk politics, school, business, and life with them during the visits and also spend time in nature spots they may not have been to yet. Our best friends living so far away has definitely added to one of the harder things about 2020: Not getting to go visit our friends or knowing when it’ll be safe to. 4 of our best friends of the past 11 to 16 years live out in California from San Francisco all the way down 8 hours away to San Diego, so it’s always a struggle to plan Best Friend visits during immediate family visits. We’re not sure if the next visit will be this fall or winter as hoped, but whatever the case, we’re SO looking forward seeing some of our favorite people again at some point (especially non-Pandemic times)-!
9) Our Passion Projects & Hobbies
Though many of these have taken the backburner to the other 9 Priorities, we still create fine art (sewing, glass art, ceramics, painting, film photography, etc), go camping, forage for wild foods, train our pets to do tricks, go hiking, meet new animals, collect fossils, etc. We work hard to learn all about the world around us, make it better, and find that the only people we really enjoy being around do the same. Most often art, animals, plants, rocks, & the funny things kids tell us make us the happiest.
10) Fighting for Justice
… i.e. for others, morals, the environment, ourselves, and ALL humans… not just people of a certain religion, certain status, gender, etc. We live in a white-governed patriarchy, but we fight for that to change and for there to be real justice for more than just those in that in-group.
Cutting out the Non-Essentials
After 4 months within this Pandemic and really focusing on our top 10 Priorities, we have come to the conclusion that all else is really extra credit & non-essential to us- especially at the given moment in time wherein we have NO more bandwidth to draw from. We’ve always lent an open ear to those who wanted it, helped everyone, and have tried to be fair and kind. We’re at a point in our lives though where the the non-essentials will remain just that: non-essential.
In these stressful Pandemic times when disappointments in humans hit harder than ever, make sure to keep a clear focus on your Priorities. Things can easily become overwhelming and hurt, but if you keep your eyes on the prize and work (not losing yourself in these overwhelming things), then you may come out on the other side of this Pandemic (whether that be in a year or sooner) stronger and better than before. Focus on the Essentials and things that you care for most in this world. We sure have been and will continue to be doing so, but now with an even clearer focus.