Coronavirus & Life As A Self Employed Photographer

Ah yes, it’s everybody’s favourite talking point. Coronavirus. Covid-19. The arsekicker. The ruiner of everyone’s year. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t going to write a blog post about it because, like loads of you, I’m fucking sick and tired of the inescapable, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week cycle of information, misinformation, hysteria, wildly misplaced rage, and coverage of this thing. That being said, I’m bored, and never miss an opportunity to talk about myself and pretend that I’m good at writing. 

I’ll preface all of this by saying that up until the start of March, 2020 was kicking ass. It was excellent. I was working with cool bands, I’d done loads of fun shoots, and has just got back from a European tour with Thy Art Is Murder (more on that in another post). Actually I was gearing up for the biggest shoot of my life when everything started to fall apart. Let’s not have a pity party here, there are millions of people FAR worse off than me, but you know, it’s fine to feel disappointed about the things you’re missing out on. I managed to book in a last minute engagement shoot with a couple who’s photographer was stuck in Greece, and it was absolutely great. The next day, Tim & I photographed a wedding, and to be honest, Corona still felt a little bit like it was being blown out of proportion you know? I’d been pretty sick on tour, and figured that I may have had it, mildly, and you know what? It wasn’t the worst illness I’ve ever had, certainly not as bad as the flu I had at university, so I count myself very lucky for that. It felt to me that everything got really serious very quickly in the UK. 

It wasn’t long before the weddings we had booked for April started to be postponed. Fair enough, it’s pretty bad out there and who knows what’s going to happen, no worries. Then the May weddings started to slide. Then the June ones. Some venues are telling couples that they’re closed until September/October, which, while we’re in April, seems crazy. Of course they have to err on the side of caution, and the spread of the virus needs to be contained, so really it’s a good thing, but let me tell you, it is a STRESSFUL time when you earn 80% of your money via weddings, almost all of which fall between April-October in any given (normal) year. I think it’s okay to be candid about money, so I don’t mind telling you that I don’t have any. A load of my weddings for 2020 have been postponed by a year, which obviously creates a cashflow problem. When I am somewhat confident on when I will be getting paid for a job, to have that date pushed back 12 months is obviously going to be difficult, and it feels inappropriate to ask for money from couples who are obviously going to be upset at moving their wedding, and stressed out with trying to retain all their vendors. I get it. Again, people have it way worse than I do, but I feel that a lot of people might not understand the situation. 

I was due to be on tour again through April, with Venom Prison, supporting Parkway Drive in arenas around Europe, but sadly that tour, and every other tour in the world, was cancelled. Again, definitely the right thing to do, but a bit of a kick to take. My heart goes out to the Venom Prison guys, who will not be on the rescheduled dates, which is such a shame. What a great opportunity for them, and how great those shows would have been. As you can probably imagine, with there being no live music, there’s no work coming in from any of the publications who I shoot for either. Again, a shame, and kind of difficult to take on the chin. 

The government have announced that as a self employed person, I will be eligible for a grant of 80% of my monthly profits, up to £2,500, means tested via previous tax returns. This is fine, on paper. What sucks is that this scheme doesn’t even open to applications until June. JUNE. That’s 2.5 months after the last time I was allowed to work (I guess by law, but that’s such a big grey area), and another 6 weeks from when I’m writing this blog post. Let’s not get into the politics of the situation right now, although if you’re not angry with the government I don’t think you’ve been paying attention for the last 9 years or so, and certainly not recently. 

 In response to this somewhat alarming vanishing act of all my jobs, I’ve set up an online store, where you could perhaps pick up something, if you have some cash to spare. I’ve got presets, an E-Book and I’m doing a raffle where you can win a shoot.

Here’s a link; jakeowensphotography.com/store. I’ll also do you prints if there’s anything specific that you would like. You should know that I really appreciate any help that you can offer, and I try and provide something for you in return. Right, that’s it. Tiny violin away, and my guitar case for loose change safely packed up. Let’s have some photos shall we?

London is now quite eerily quiet, which makes a nice change. I had to go pick up my glasses from the post office the other morning, and thought, why not take my camera and see if I can remember how the bloody thing works. I can remember, by the way, so that’s good news. Anyway, thanks for getting this far, and for putting up with all my moaning. I promise that I’m actually staying pretty upbeat about the whole thing, and trying to use the time to play some Xbox (If you want to play some COD let me know) and get better at guitar, and speaking to friends on FaceTime. Anyway, enjoy the shots, stay safe, and for fucks sake don’t fucking jog past me, breathing out your mouth. 

Peace.