For the first time in 10 years I don’t have any cute Valentines Day photos of babies to share with you. When I head back into the studio on Tuesday it will be my first newborn session in 2 months after the end of the most recent provincial stay-at-home order.
The boys have no red, white, or pink clothes that fit and while they don’t have Covid hair since I’ve become quite handy with the clippers and scissors, they were more enthusiastic about Valentines Day photos for their pets.
So I present, a Covid Valentine’s Day.
For ten years I worked at farms and at a vet clinic, which basically means I spent 10 years cleaning up poop. It turns out that photographing newborn babies is no different: for the past ten years I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up baby poop. Apparently my sons bearded dragon Hobbes just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss photographing babies too much so she pooped on the paper and knocked over all the props.
After years of campaigning for a reptile, my son adopted Hobbes in May for his 12th birthday. She was a six months old when she came to live with us and he named her after one of his favourite comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes. We didn’t find out her sex until she was 8 months old: turns out Hobbes is a girl!
My sons room is filled with graphic novels, Dungeons & Dragons paraphernalia, his collection of cassette tapes, and many, many photos of his beloved Hobbes! Every holiday he asks me to take studio photos of her and her Halloween, Christmas, and now Valentines photos, adorn his walls.
In 2019 we started talking about the possibility of a dog joining our family. It had been 9 years since our dog died and we felt like the boys were old enough to help and we had the time to dedicate to training a puppy.
We were lucky enough to begin the process before the pandemic and Hazel joined our family in July. She’s not a fan of the studio because it’s where I disappear to work and she’s not allowed to be with me but she still tolerated a few photos with her buddy Hobbes and a flowered headband, which my son chose for her.
