nature – Clare McEwen Photography

Well 2020 has been impossible to ignore! It has been an emotional rollercoaster for everyone and a physical rollercoaster for many. It has been a year that has changed us, I hope for the better and I hope forever, but I am an optimist! One thing it has done, is bring us together, we may have been in separate boats, but we’ve all been bashed around by the same tides of change.

It has led to amazing scientific and medical breakthroughs in a ridiculously short period of time, thanks to everyone working against a common enemy – this time last year, we didn’t even know that this particular virus existed, today, in the UK, the NHS are administering the first vaccines against it, as I type! This is incredible, and although not a miracle cure, is a bloody amazing achievement for humankind.

Despite the backdrop of a global pandemic that has side-swiped all our lives, I hope you have found pockets of positivity and joy. For me, these have included:

Getting to home-school my son, which as well as being frustrating was actually extremely rewarding!! And I believe it actually helped him academically

Spending much more time in the garden watching the wildlife – learning which birds visit our garden regularly, discovering we have a little tribe of hedgehog visitors and now seeing the squirrels scuttling back and forth every morning

Realising more how I want to spend my time – less rushing about, more taking pleasure in strolling through the countryside with my family, exploring places we’ve not been before.

And this year feels like a turning point for my photography. I’ve set up a website to sell prints, and I’ve sold some! I’ve watched many online tutorials and seminars about photography and Photoshop and learnt some new skills. And this week, I’ve had one of my favourite photos of the year published in Amateur Photographer magazine – a big deal for me!

The negatives of 2020 are easy to find and require no thinking about, but what are your positives? What have you learnt through this year that you can carry on when the world gradually gets re-started again (hopefully!)? What are you grateful for?

Thank you for reading this blog this year and I’ll see you in 2021.

Best wishes and stay safe.

Clare x

For a community jam full of positivity and fun, come and check out my Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/seethecalm

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Well, we’re on the cusp of the kids going back to school in the UK and I know I’m not the only one feeling weird about it. Of course we all have some trepidation about how this is all going to work whilst we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, but it’s also more than this.

We’ve all been at home so long and been doing things so differently that it’s difficult to see how we’re going to get back into that routine – I do not envy teachers who must find it hard to settle kids after 6 weeks off, nevermind after 5 months! Some kids are desperate to get back, others are going to find it really difficult, and those little reception children are going to have to go in without their mum’s – heartbreaking for everyone. And us parents, we are going to find it so tough – I’m already losing sleep! Not only is the hygiene aspect soon to be out of my hands, but I’m not going to have my child with me all day for the first time in 5 months! And although there is, undeniably, some appeal in this, I’m going to miss him so much! We’ve been inseparable for this time and it’s mostly been amazing.

So, I’m going to focus on all the fab things we’ve done during this time. All the new places we’ve found, all the things we’ve learnt, all the nature we’ve seen, flowers we’ve grown, all the kitchen discos…

All the PE with Joe, the home learning lessons and projects, the VE Day celebrations in the garden, the water fights, the home Sports’ Day, our garden music festival…

The movie nights, the giggles, the endless football in the garden, the craft sessions making posters and banners for various events, the looking after a poorly robin and the discovery of hedgehogs visiting our garden.

And now that I’ve written that out, it’s clear that we’ve been lucky enough to have had loads of fun during this scary time. So, rather than worry about what I can’t control when school restarts, I’m going to try to focus on the gift of time that under normal circumstances we would never have had. And I’m going to spend the next 5 months sorting out all the photo memories!

Stay safe.

Clare x

www.claremcewenphotography.com – sign up for my newsletter on the home page and never miss a blog post. And get 10% off your first print order.

Tag: nature

2020: An Unwelcome Odyssey

Back to school – mixed emotions