Post Pandemic Reboot

I started this blog back in 2016 as a way to document my journey from corporate life to a lifestyle as an independent photographer. I started with early plans to downsize, session from my corporate job, looking for studio space, building that out, finding first clients, etc. By the end of 2017 I kind of ran out of semi-interesting things to say because the transition was complete, for the most part.

The reception area of the new suite, when still occupied by the previous tenants. Look closely at the cabinetry on the left for a hint of some of the challenges we faced as we took position of this new space.

Images by Design was growing year over year until 2020 - we all know what happened then. I saw several of my fellow togs shutter their businesses and return to other jobs. Many times over the next two years, I thought about doing the same. But I managed to keep the doors open by changing my services to meet the needs of the time, and tightening my belt, so as the pandemic began to wain I started to think where we should go next.

Denise and I decided on a course where we could continue to grow our businesses together - share a suite that would support both our businesses, downsize our home (again) to make that financially and space - wise possible, and support each other’s businesses even more strongly.

So, in April of 2022 we moved back into our condo - that’s the downsizing again part. That meant we needed a suite that could support many requirements, desirements, wants and needs. Luckily, in our building there was another suite, similar to my existing studio, but with a nicer build-out (sort-of, I’ll talk more about that later). More importantly, it had about 50% more total square footage allowing for 50% bigger shooting studio, 50% more storage space, 50% more shop space, a dedicated room for training/conferences/etc., and a dedicated room for Denise to perform her spa treatments. The big issue was this new space would not be available until the end of June.

I looked at my schedule and since I didn’t have many studio projects booked for the coming weeks, we decided to take all the household goods that didn’t fit in the condo and move them over to the studio so we didn’t have to deal with a storage unit again. Now the studio shooting space was full of boxes, shelves and furniture. The shop and storage areas were filled to the brim as well. Denise’s mother had passed away in early 2022 and we still had a lot of her personal things Denise hadn’t figured out what to do with yet. The story of Denise’s mom is an entire other tale for a different blog - maybe I can get Denise to tell that whole journey on her own web site.

In the coming weeks I’ll share the progress and setbacks that this major change brought to our businesses and our lives as we positioned ourselves for the coming times. Hint: as of January 2023 we’re not completely there yet. You’ll just have to check back to read.