Lockdown Portrait #23

Lockdown Portrait #23. Our neighbours, the newest arrivals on the street, Saskia, Ben, Jo & Amelia Vertigan. I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time. Jo’s thoughts on lockdown... “We moved in on the 24th March, the first day of lock down, but have managed to create a great home albeit without all the usual suspects to help the move. Weekly we wrestle through the home schooling journey but we have also had time to build numerous flat-packs and have lots of family quizzes via House Party.” #suffolkphotographer #cambridgeshirephotographer #essexphotographer #norfolkphotogrpaher #burystedmunds #locationphotography #portraitphotography #suffolk #essex #norwich #cambridge #ipswich #cambridgeshire #lockdown #familyportraits #lifeinlockdown #sonyA7iii #sony #profotoA1 #profoto Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #22

Lockdown Portrait #22. Sophie & George have lived on the street for 10 months.

“As fairly new residents on Victoria Street, we have been able to meet/get to know some lovely new faces through the use of the next door website. We have also been able to spend a lot of time planning our house renovation which we look forward to starting in the next few weeks!”

I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time.

#suffolkphotographer

#cambridgeshirephotographer

#essexphotographer

#norfolkphotogrpaher

#burystedmunds 

#locationphotography

#portraitphotography

#suffolk

#essex

#norwich

#cambridge

#ipswich

#cambridgeshire

#lockdown

#familyportraits

#lifeinlockdown

#sonyA7iii

#sony

#profotoA1

#profoto

Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #21

Lorraine, Richard, Brooke, Isla & Nicole have lived on the street for 2 years. They happened to be renovating their front door when I dropped round to take their photo. “Lockdown 2020 COVID-19 COVID-19 has meant many different things to our household! Being self-employed and an electrician, where all your work is in the public entertainment, via restaurants, gyms and tourism. This initially caused financial worry. The actual outcome has been that the support from the government mean we should have a business in a well-equipped position and ready to resume when possible. For the other half of the household it is been challenging to adapt to some WFH while supporting a team of scientists to maintain the approach of ‘business as usual’. As scientific research is seen as more important than ever, it is amazing to be part of such a historic and unknown time but challenging. At times it’s frustrating that, as a household we haven’t been in the same situation, but for the greater part, relief that together as a team we could cope with it and consider ourselves the lucky ones. There have been many benefits to this challenging time, the work on our home has progressed, more than it would have. Having the opportunity to spend more time with the children we would normally only see every other weekend - they have been coming every week and sharing the time between us. Being part of their daily lives through this, teaching them and ourselves how to occupy yourselves without electronic gadgets. All of this has slowed most peoples lives and given a time of reflection on what factors complicate and add pressure to our previous lives in what we call normality. Will life be the same as before? I hope not as we have realised a little more of what is really important and hope to hold these thoughts when lockdown is no more.” I am shooting a series of #portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time. #lockdown #suffolk #suffolkphotographer #eastanglia #cambridgephotographer

Lockdown Portrait #20

Lockdown Portrait #20. Alex, Martin, Nicci & Daniel Cook. 

Nicci is a pharmacist at The West Suffolk Hospital and has been working throughout lockdown. These are Martin’s thoughts on lockdown…

“I’ve had to get used to working at home most of the time which has been okay really. I miss catching up with colleagues over a cuppa. Instead of meeting up with people in the pub or restaurants etc. we’re socialising on-line using zoom and playing virtual board games or quizzing which is usually good fun if the technology holds out but it’s not the same as meeting face-to-face. Daniel has been most affected by the lockdown as this is supposed to be his first year living away studying at York. In fact most of his clothes are still in York waiting for us to collect then from his flat. On the positive side we are enjoying not using the car, exercising more, baking and starting new hobbies. We still have our jobs and we are all fit and healthy.”

I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time.

#suffolkphotographer

#cambridgeshirephotographer

#essexphotographer

#norfolkphotogrpaher

#burystedmunds 

#locationphotography

#portraitphotography

#suffolk

#essex

#norwich

#cambridge

#ipswich

#cambridgeshire

#lockdown

#familyportraits

#lifeinlockdown

#sonyA7iii

#sony

#profotoA1

#profoto

Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #19

Lockdown Portrait #19. Margaret has lived on the street for nearly 32 years. She still works as a dressmaker, creating and repairing dresses for clients in the town. She started her career in London as a Court dressmaker, where she worked on the clothing for the 1953 Coronation. Since the lockdown started she has been making protective masks, one of which she is holding in this photo. So far she’s made 36 masks which she has sent to friends and family around the country. As she’s not on the internet she has really missed face-to-face contact with other people. Since the lockdown has eased she has been going out occasionally and she says it’s been nice to see some other faces. #suffolkphotographer #cambridgeshirephotographer #essexphotographer #norfolkphotogrpaher #burystedmunds #locationphotography #portraitphotography #suffolk #essex #norwich #cambridge #ipswich #cambridgeshire #lockdown #familyportraits #lifeinlockdown #sonyA7iii #sony #profotoA1 #profoto Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #18

Lockdown Portrait #18. With US airbases near the town we have quite a few Americans living on our street. Alex and Chris have lived here for 3½ years. Chris is in the military and Alex works in a lovely coffee/sandwich shop in town.

Here they are with their dogs Cricket & Theo.

Alex says… “I was furloughed in March, he’s working. It’s been an interesting balance of filling my time but also recognising it doesn’t always have to have purpose. This situation has made us acutely aware that we’re far from home and family, but the support and love from our neighbours has been uplifting.” I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time.

#suffolkphotographer #cambridgeshirephotographer #essexphotographer #norfolkphotogrpaher #burystedmunds #locationphotography #portraitphotography #suffolk #essex #norwich #cambridge #ipswich #cambridgeshire #lockdown #familyportraits #lifeinlockdown #sonyA7iii #sony #profotoA1 #profoto Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #17

I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time. Ross & Gemma have lived on Victoria Street for 6 years with their son Sebastian. These are Ross’s thoughts on lockdown…

“Being furloughed has allowed me time to focus on areas away from work that I wouldn’t normally have time for. 

For 6 years, we have been living in a house that has a cellar. For that time it’s pretty much been a dumping ground, but now I’ve had the time to convert it into a usable room which is now both a games room and classroom.

Being able to teach my son has been a fantastic opportunity whilst my partner continues with work (although I am not so sure my son will agree). It has been tough at times but we have found an element of compromise which is showing signs of success. I can say that I have learned a thing or two over the past few weeks from Key Stage 1 English! 

What a saviour technology is with many platforms to communicate, share information, ask questions and of course, ensure that children do not miss out completely on their education. I am lucky to have the fantastic support from the School and only having one child really helps. I know many other families are not so lucky to be able to focus their complete attention to their children during school hours.

Sadly we had to break the news to Seb that he couldn’t have a birthday party this year. As you can imagine it didn’t go down very well. It’s difficult for a 5/6 year old to grasp what’s going on. 

Let’s hope we are about to see the final furlong of this crazy crisis and return back to as close to normal as possible. I wish to say goodbye to the ‘virus days’ as my son likes to put it… real soon!”

#suffolkphotographer

#cambridgeshirephotographer

#essexphotographer

#norfolkphotogrpaher

#burystedmunds 

#locationphotography

#portraitphotography

#suffolk

#essex

#norwich

#cambridge

#ipswich

#cambridgeshire

#lockdown

#familyportraits

#lifeinlockdown

#sonyA7iii

#sony

#profotoA1

#profoto

Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #15

Lockdown Portrait #16, Simon, Asa, Oktober & Michael with Pippin the dog.

“Elements of the slow down of pace have been welcomed, but with the understanding that we're incredibly fortunate to have the space to not be on top of each other, and that our work, whilst income has diminished, has not disappeared and is likely following this period to increase.”

I am shooting a series of portraits of residents of Victoria St in #burystedmunds to put together a small local record of this challenging time.

#suffolkphotographer

#cambridgeshirephotographer

#essexphotographer

#norfolkphotogrpaher

#burystedmunds 

#locationphotography

#portraitphotography

#suffolk

#essex

#norwich

#cambridge

#ipswich

#cambridgeshire

#lockdown

#familyportraits

#lifeinlockdown

#sonyA7iii

#sony

#profotoA1

#profoto

Shot with @sonyalpha A7iii & @profotoglobal A1

Lockdown Portrait #15

‪Roger, Sarah, India and Tom Roe have lived on the street for 10 years. Roger says…‬ ‪“It has enabled our family to spend quality time together. Due to travel restrictions our eldest son is unable to be at home with us.”‬

School Site Photos

The only commissioned shoot I have managed to do during lockdown was at the stunning @culfordschool With no pupils or teachers around it was a perfect time to capture some clean photos of the beautiful buildings on site, including the library shown here. If your school needs a strong set of marketing photos please contact me at tom@tomsoperphotography.com #educationphotography #educationalphotography #groupphotography #schoolmarketing #marketingphotography #schoolphotographer #schoolphotography #suffolkphotographer #burystedmunds #locationphotography #portraitphotography #essexphotographer #schoolmarketing #suffolk #essex #independentschools #independentschool #norwich #cambridge #ipswich #cambridgeshire #cambridgeshirephotographer