A Change of Scenery

2020 has been a challenging year for us all. Through it all I have tried to find some positives. I had a near full diary for 2020 which has been smashed apart. The Government has done very little to support businesses like mine. The wedding and entertainment industry has been brutally treated by Boris Johnson and his cabinet with the suggestion being made by ministers that people in the wedding, arts and entertainment industry should "find a job".

My business has been brought to it's knees this year with only three weddings going ahead. One before the pandemic in January, one as weddings were beginning to start again but with strict rules in place and only 6 people present and the third, a wedding which was almost cancelled as a result of the ongoing confusion but was hastily rearranged with a scaled back guest list. I had considered whether it was worth carrying on.

2020 comes after what was a personally very tough, painful and disastrous 2019...a year I almost didn't see through. 2020 was supposed to be "a new start". But what 2020 has given me personally is a lot of time to reflect and refocus (excuse the pun). I relocated to the South East in 2016; a move that has been pretty disastrous. It didn't go to plan and my wedding photography took a back seat.

I have realised this year with the handful of weddings that did go ahead that I need this business. This business is me. And although I currently have a job that sits alongside my wedding photography, being behind the camera is where I am happiest. I have spent a long time in 2020 out and about capturing the South East of England during the pandemic. And getting back to basics has helped me find my way and helped me reflect on what I need to do.

So in 2021 I will be setting down my roots finally after a somewhat nomadic period of my life. I love my native North East of England, but the South East of England is where I am happiest. And after a lengthy search I have found where I want to settle. The Garden of England. I am currently househunting and have found a house which I hope to move into early in 2021. Kent is quiet and stunning but is close enough to London too to deliver wedding photography in the Capital.

It's early days yet but I am in the process and as a result I am actively promoting myself as a Kent and London wedding photographer. Over the past 10 years or so I have shot many weddings across the South East of England including London, Kent and Essex. It's a part of the world I know well and I love. Kent provides me with a perfect base to access the whole South East, the rest of the UK and Europe.

As Belle and Sebastian once sung, my wondering days are done.