Hello Friends,

As I tap away on my keyboard at my home office I’m just amazed at how much life has changed for all of us.  Only minutes ago I was THRILLED because a sweet friend drove by my house. As I stood on the porch and she parked in the street we probably woke the entire neighborhood as we hollered to each other in happy greetings.  This is the way we do things. It’s not satisf_ying but it’s so much better than nothing!  We stay home now. We stay inside unless absolutely necessary. Jeff and I do drive each day to a large, wide open, walking area to take Lucy for a daily walk. We usually drive the long way home and then we stay in. 

With my business at a stand still I really struggle with staying positive and productive.  I am heartbroken over the loss of  Spring I wrote all about it here https://shellyfryphotography.com/my-everyday/spring-photography-with-shelly-fry-photographysessions! 

So none of that is happening.

SFP NEWS – 13th Edition

On Wednesday my 13th Newsletter went out! I have officially begun the second year of SFP News. Have you signed up? No? What are you waiting for? I comes once a month. That is it! Sign up here http://madmimi.com/signups/f92831e48f4c4758a38ad3779e2d9f9b/join 

I will not blast you weekly with annoying emails I promise. But the newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with what is going on at SFP. Especially if you’re not big into social media and just like to read everything all at once. Also, I will always announce any specials or events first to my newsletter subscribers and sometimes they get deals I don’t offer anywhere else.  So join the team, it’s fun!

Documenting

In my former life I was a history teacher and I have a History degree. I’m sharing that only as proof that I truly do love history. And friends, we are living in historical times. I always ENJOYED teaching about the Great Depression. I can’t really explain why, I just have always found it a very interesting time in history. Maybe somewhere in my sub-conscience I knew I would one day experience something similar.  Well, we aren’t there yet, and I hope we never will be. But my point, yes I have a point….. Is that we know about things in history because people took the time to document what was happening to them. What their experiences were. People living in different parts of the country during the Great Depression had very different experiences. Some were just poor. They were poor before the Depression and they were poor after. They didn’t really notice a difference. People who lived in the NW had a much better experience (unless they had money tied up in the Stock Market) than people living in the Midwest. 

I have begun documenting my personal experience. Will my experience ever make a history book? Probably not.  But my grandchildren and their children could one day look at the pictures and read my journal. 

Another excellent reason is that I find it therapeutic. I miss photographing and I have a lot of stuff jumping around my brain. It helps to write out the facts, the feelings of all of it. 

I followed all of the social distancing rules while I had Jeff drive me around Vancouver and PDX. I wanted to capture with my camera Social Distancing. Here are some of the photos I found without much effort.  I hope to go out and do it again in the next week.

What I’m Reading

I have been skipping this part of my blog lately. I am still reading!  Here is a list of the books I have read since I last updated you. If you want to see the reviews and how I rated each book, sign up for my Newsletter to read them.

Dear America, Notes of an undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas 

Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Gray

Lost Boy Found
by Kirsten Alexander

We Fed an Island The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time. by Jose Andres with Richard Wolffe

The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith

What I’m Photographing

Just before Covid19 Locked us down I was able to slip in a session. Maryn had her 1st birthday party. The original plans were bigger with more people but social-distancing and crowd limits had already been put into place. 

I’m so happy we were able to capture Maryn and her many expressions!

Maryn was all prepped to have her very first taste of cake. I was there to capture the moment. The plan was that she would love it and cover herself in sticky sweet frosting.

Turns out Maryn doesn’t like cake! She didn’t want anything to do with the beautiful cake! Which made for fun photographs even if they weren’t as we had all planned. 

Business

If you are looking for ways to help small businesses that are impacted by this shut down I have a suggestion. Take a minute to Google your favorite hair dresser, dog groomer, florist, photographer, etc and if they deserve a 5 star review they would be thrilled if you wrote them one! Its a great way to encourage those who are discouraged at this time. 

While my business is officially closed until April 30th (hopefully no longer) I am happy to book future sessions. If life is too uncertain to book at this time I understand. Just know that when you are ready for those Senior portraits and Family sessions I will be here. If anyone wants to book at this time know that we will be extremely flexible since non of us knows what the future holds.

Stay Home – Stay Healthy

I love my home but I also love my freedom. However, realizing I love health more keeps me home. I want to live in a thriving society where we are all healthy and not in danger of killing each other with a sneeze. So, I will continue to stay home and social distance when I do go out. My only outings are for walks where I stay away from everyone, except Jeff and Lucy, and then a rare grocery store visit. I am so freaked out by the grocery store that I really hold off as long as I can. I find it a very stressf_ul situation. Sad, but a sign of what we are experiencing.

So I continue to make a list for myself each day. I just finished a 1000 piece puzzle, I’m into a good book, there is laundry to do after I’m done writing this and a dog who is anxious to go for a walk even though it is wet and freezing outside. 

This week I finally began working out with classes I found on Youtube. I’m so sore today I can barely get up and down stars or sit down on the toilet. Apparently, not working out since before foot surgery, the first of December, has really set me back! 🙂 

Stay busy, stay productive, stay positive, stay healthy friends!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shelly