So I’m in a time crunch with 22 blogs to write before the summer is over and the fall rush begins. That’s 22 sessions that have happened since I re-opened after Covid and, yes, I’m crazed and overwhelmed and not sure how I’m going to get everything done – but I’m also in awe and thankful and speechless at how far I’ve come in the three years since opening the doors of Liz Viernes Photography. As the summer’s winding down, I’m counting my blessings and looking forward to the new ways my business is changing and adapting to accommodate the way life looks right now.
Covid has created an upheaval in so many people’s lives. For us, it hasn’t been too catastrophic – we often muse that we almost feel guilty for living our best Covid life – but there are still changes that are taking place which will affect how things are done around here. Summer’s winding down and soon I will have to juggle my thriving photography business as well as FULL-TIME homeschooling. Last year we homeschooled, yes, but the kids attended a tutorial program that saw them “at school” two days a week. This meant that I could be free to do sessions or edit or grocery shop, go to the dentist, etc., with no hangers-on. This year, they won’t be attending the tutorial program (they could’ve, their program is open and functioning in a modified way – we just didn’t want to send the kids to school with masks on and I need to keep us as healthy as possible since I photograph newborns). This means I still have to do all the same things, just with three kids in tow. I’m stressing a little about prioritizing school while still accepting mid-week newborn sessions but I feel confident that my kiddos will get with the new program fairly quickly and be self-sufficient before too long.
I will be utilizing Instacart to the fullest degree. I already loathe grocery shopping so Instacart was an answer to prayer…but now I loathe prepping the grocery list and inputting my order (ha, first world problems). Another change I’ve made – and this is a BIG one – is that I’ve hired an editor. She won’t edit every session but I’m passing off the posed newborn sessions for her to edit fully, according to my style. This will free up SO MUCH time and will also enable me to accept more posed newborn sessions! Before hiring her, I was bound by what I could feasibly edit in a reasonable timeframe and still be present for my family. Now, I can shoot multiple posed newborn sessions in a week (if my back can take it!) and send them off to be edited…I’ll be footloose and fancy-free and you just can’t believe the weight that has been lifted. Summer’s winding down and I feel FREEEEEEEE!
In ten days we leave for our annual beach vacation and I could not be more ready to go. We started school a little bit over the summer: 1) to test out the new curriculum to make sure we liked it before parting ways with our tutorial program and 2) to free ourselves up a week so we could vacation without school hanging over our heads (I can’t tell you how awesome it is to go to the beach while everyone else is at school and work – it’s freaking amazing…and WAY less crowded) so we already know what the school year will look like and we’re happy with what we’ve chosen. Heading back from the beach will be a bit melancholy, as always, because it really will mean that summer’s winding down…but that’s what you get when you go to the beach in September. Ya take the good with the bad, amiright???
All that to say, it’s been a good summer with lots of professional progress made. And I’m not only talking about how summer’s winding down…I also want to tell you about one of the cuties I photographed at the beginning of the summer, Vikram. He was originally going to be one of my newborns but, thanks to Covid, ended up coming to see me when he was two months old. He was a bit more awake and alert than a newborn would be but we still managed to get some great shots to document his early months and he helped me prove that you can still get great, print-worthy shots of an “elderly newborn”. Enjoy meeting my buddy Vikram (and don’t forget to check out his parents’ beautiful maternity session)!
Liz Viernes Photography is based in Silver Spring, Maryland, and specializes in maternity, fresh 48, posed and lifestyle newborns and first year milestone portraits.
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