I've always done things a bit differently.
After university I went backpacking by myself for almost a year. It was stressful, challenging, scary, the most fun I've ever had and the least amount of money I've ever had. It was an opportunity for me to grow and discover what I liked and what I didn't.
A few years later Keith and I found ourselves living in Japan, we didn't know the language, the landscape, the culture or anyone else going into it but we packed our lives into a couple of suitcases and went out on an adventure. Again with very little money and a long way from home. We thankfully had a lot of help from the school we were teaching at and we learned some of a new language, we learned a lot about different cultures and travelled, we learned resilience, we made friends that came and went and we had a lot of fun.
In 2010 we opened our studio full time. We photographed, weddings and portraits and Keith started doing personalized illustrations. We made many mistakes when it came to business but we learned. We tried many things to grow our business, we listened to others, we failed and we succeeded but every step along the way we learned.
Over the past few years we have been building our business, working on our crafts and have been living life on our terms. We tried not to buy into the keeping up with others and "needing" every new gadget that came on the market to make our lives better.
When Covid-19 hit and we were deemed a non-essential service, aside from the financial aspect, not a huge amount changed in our lives. We joked that Keith was practicing social distancing and self-isolation years before it became the norm. We continue to create and network online, interact with our friends and peers. We don't know what tomorrow looks like for our business but I personally have taken this time to learn new skills, to create work that excites me, to catch up on things I've let slide.
I took some time to find pleasure in the pause. There were days I was stressed out because I didn't know and still don't know what life will look like after but we are only ever guaranteed the moment we are in and maybe that is the best place to reside.
As someone who is incredibly social and out doing something, at least 3-4 times a week, staying home was not an easy concept.
The things that this has given me is clarity. My life revolves around creativity, love, friendship, and adventure.
Now as we move forward into stage 2 I'm looking forward to being able to work with amazing business owners to create images that reflect where they are in life and business and how things might have changed for them. I'm looking forward to the new adventures that our new realities are shaping and catching up with friends and family (from a socially acceptable distance).
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