Hello fellow humans!

First and foremost, I’m wishing all of you safety, health, love, and security during this difficult time.

The covid-19 pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty into our lives. You or someone you know may have gotten sick. Some of us have lost our jobs. Some of us are hoping our businesses don’t crumble. Some of us are hoping our loved ones working in essential job industries are staying safe in the world. ALL of us are hoping for everyone to follow suit in staying home and committing fully to social distancing for the safety of everyone. I know this is hard. Hard for some, harder for others. It is not easy by any means, emotionally, physically, or financially, for anyone.

Having built a small business myself, I understand the fear and frustrations felt among other small business owners and my heart goes out to every single one. I’ve seen a lot of GoFund me pages popping up. I’ve seen attempts at offering discounts in hopes of putting food on the table for the coming months and beyond. I’ve seen rescheduling and canceling. I’ve seen local shops close indefinitely.

I want to express the utmost gratitude to my clients who have worked with me through this to reschedule their weddings and portrait sessions to ensure I’m able to be there for them at a future date. It means the world to me and no doubt would mean the world to every other photographer out there.

It is not beyond me to know that a lot of us do not have the funds to purchase non-essential items or experiences right now. It’s just our reality. Our responsibility is to our families.

Whether you personally have the funds to continue purchasing right or not, there are things ALL of us can do to help small businesses at this time. Consider the following list. Considering sharing this with your family and friends. Not all of these ideas are limited to just photographers.

Continue booking your vendors for your 2021 wedding
Book a future portrait or family session for yourself
Purchase a gift certificate from any small business for a friend or family member
Purchase a piece of art from someone you admire
Leave great reviews for small businesses you have worked with or bought from (FREE)
Purchase prints through the gallery your photographer delivered to you (as of right now my print lab is still open and operating)
Order that wedding album or family album you’ve been putting off
Repost photos your photographer has taken and tag them (FREE)
Social media engagement is HUGE. “Like” or “Follow” their business pages. “Like” their posts. Comment on their posts. Share their posts. The more engagement small businesses receive, the better the chances of that content reaching a future client. (FREE)
Word of Mouth. Talk about small businesses you love. You never know who you will help in the process. (FREE)
Non-business related. Consider (safely) sharing household products with your neighbors to help out financially.
Non-business related. Finished with that book? Wipe it down and send it to the next person. Loving a podcast? Share it! Missing someone? Pick up the phone. Take advantage of video chats. Share happy things. Keep your spirits up. Positive outlooks are contagious too.

If anyone has other ideas to contribute to this list, please leave a comment or email me at colleenstepanian@gmail.com and I will update this page as recommendations come in.

This too shall pass. Let’s get through this together.

All the love and well wishes,

Colleen Stepanian

P.S. Here’s some more hugs to look at.