What Precautions Am I Taking to Help Keep Everyone Covid Safe in Spring 2021?

The sun is shining on this beautiful spring day, and many of you are starting to think about your upcoming family photo session.

So much has been out of whack for the past year plus thanks to Covid-19 … and even with vaccine availability on the rise, we’re not quite out of the woods yet.  I thought an update on Covid precautions was in order.

Since the first re-opening of New York back in June 2020, I’ve been doing newborn and family sessions both indoors and out.  Before leaving my home, I sanitize all my equipment.  Before ringing your doorbell, I do one final cleanup of my hands with hand sanitizer. I arrive wearing a mask, and the mask stays on all times.  I make every attempt to stay 6+ feet away when taking photographs, and I refrain from touching anyone during the session.  (This is the HARDEST part – I miss squeezing babies and tickling toddlers!)  I always reschedule if someone in my home is sick or has come in contact with someone who’s sick, and I ask my families to do the same.

Most importantly, I’ll always touch base with you a day or two before your session to remind you of these baseline precautions and talk with you about any additional precautions you might request to make you feel even more comfortable.

Now that the weather’s warming up, another big strategy will again come into play – we can always head outside.

As much as I prefer indoor photos most of the time, the realities of the past year-plus have meant that many families are requesting that a good portion of their photos be taken outside.  An important thing to consider, though, is that outdoor sessions take lots of planning to ensure they’ll feel as relaxed and natural as if you were doing your thing inside.

Every family is different, of course, so every family’s story — even in the backyard — will look different in photos. To ensure that your photos feel relaxed and natural, I always recommend that we think about and plan some activities for outside.  I want to avoid a situation where everyone’s standing around, waiting to be posed in front of a blooming bush or flowerbed — that’s not how we get you to relax, right?

Some ideas …

• a picnic! A breakfast of muffins?  Dessert of ice cream or cookies?  Yum!
• a game.  Something that has helped your family pass the long hours of quarantine and can be played outside is always a good idea.
• a fire pit – yes, gatherings around the fire pit with cups of coffee, glasses of wine or – of course – marshmallows will be a vivid part of many memories of 2020 and 2021.  And super photogenic, too!

I touched on lots of other ideas last summer HERE.

Let’s get planning!