I’m four days late in posting this. I meant to post it on December 31st, but as per usual, work got super chaotic and I lost track of anything that wasn’t eating, sleeping or putting out fires.
These aren’t necessarily my best pictures, but they are the ones that felt representative of the month.
January: Randy and I braved the bitter cold and went down to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. I took this on our way to meet a friend for pizza and beer afterward.
February: B.C. (Before Coronavirus) I used to get up early on the weekends to shoot at sunrise. I love the early dawn light and it’s much easier to get up for the sunrise in the early spring than it is in the summer! If I had only known that in a few short weeks, I wouldn’t even be allowed along the lakefront because of a pandemic.
March: Life ground to a halt. When I left my office on Friday, March 13th, I thought I’d be back by April 1st. Oh, how naive I was! As people started to hoard food, I spent the next several weeks, making daily trips to multiple grocery stores hoping to find basics like toilet paper, bread, pasta, canned goods, frozen foods, milk, eggs, yeast, flour, soap and other cleaning supplies. I ate a lot of salads and off brand snacks! Funny (and maybe a little sad) how the produce department was always well stocked.
April: Illinois is under a stay at home order and all of sudden my photo walks felt dangerous. I became wary of people so I started walking in alleys to avoid people and photographing people’s trash. Everyone was eating and drinking a lot.
May: Two months into the pandemic and everything is still shut down. Cleaning supplies are still scarce and I’m on Zoom 3x a week talking to friends. I’d grown tired of walking the alleys so I started walking through the cemeteries.
June: Chicago is on fire, literally. The BLM protests have become violent and Chicago has a curfew. Once again, groceries become difficult to get as grocery stores are closed and boarded up. Animal shelters are cleared out because people have been adopting or fostering animals and I’m no exception. Gladys is my little Covid kitten. Though I didn’t get her from a shelter. I have my very own kitten dealer and because of her I have both Rose and Gladys. I think three cats makes me a bonafied cat lady!
July: I booked my first gig as a photographer. A friend of mine “hired” me to do her maternity pictures. The word hired is in quotes because no way was I going to let her pay me – I had no idea what I was I doing so we agreed that she’d buy dinner. It was a learning experience! Portrait photography is A LOT harder than I ever imagined it would be. Memo to self – learn how to pose people.
August: This was definitely the worst month of the year. Randy and I lost Henry on August 2nd. It was traumatic and devastating. We rushed him to the emergency vet on a Sunday night and had to wait in the car while waiting on news from the vet. I didn’t take any pictures this month.
September: I’ve been stuck at home for six months. I’m watching a lot of TV. I miss my friends, happy hours, dinners out, brunches, movies, and traveling. Most of my pictures of my cats.
October: I did family portraits for a friend. Again, I’m lucky since the stakes were pretty low. I bought speed light for the shoot having learned from the maternity shoot that the lighting would be poor. Not sure I used it properly though….
November: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were elected as President and Vice President and my neighborhood went nuts. People were dancing on the street corners and driving up and down Clark Street waving flags. Mayor Lightfoot even joined us and gave a little speech. I posted this image of a woman on her bike Flying the W (Cubs fans “Fly the W” when the Cubs win) on Instagram and had someone contact me asking if they could buy it.
December: I didn’t take many pictures in December with my Nikon, but I did take a picture everyday of the Christmas lights in my neighborhood with my iPhone and posted them in my Instagram stories with Christmas music.
