AYWMC half-year review
2020 has not been what anyone expected. Plans made in January had to be ripped up at the end of February. Back in March we didn’t know if we would be locked down for two weeks or two months. Writing this in July, still nobody knows what to expect next week let alone next quarter.
The one constant through the pandemic has been the fact that A Year With My Camera is first and foremost a community, not just a photography course. Because of that we have not only kept in touch every day but we have grown closer as we adapted to lockdown.
A Year With My Camera: pandemic adaptations
Facebook group virtual meetups
Our local meetup groups quickly switched from in-person meetups to virtual meetups. Led by quick-thinking volunteer admins, photographers used to meeting in real life for cake and photography enjoyed meeting virtually for any number of different photography challenges.
We have held our first inter-group friendly competition (won by the West of Scotland team), and will host more in the coming weeks.
The AYWMC app
Our app has been the cornerstone of our response to the pandemic. We quickly set up a group for everyone who would be self-isolating, long before the official lockdown started. Recognising that for many people with underlying health conditions (themselves or their family) the pandemic would impact their lives every day until a vaccine was available, we set up a group for mutual support and weekly photo projects.
Indoor photography ideas
The AYWMC admin team have posted indoor/close-to-home alternatives for all the AYWMC weekly lessons in the Facebook groups. The AYWMC blog posts have switched focus: where we might have featured travel and landscape photography ideas we have moved to still life and other lockdown-friendly suggestions:
Four ways to approach creative self-portraits
Lockdown flower photography project
Window-light still life photography
Beginner’s guide to photogaphing garden birds
Free online stuff to do during social distancing
23 indoor photography projects
AYWMC pandemic giving
AYWMC itself has gone from strength to strength during the pandemic and I can’t thank you enough for supporting the community and the business. Over 21,000 people joined in the first half of the year (up from 17,000 in the same period last year). Book sales have broken records, online courses have been sold out and the app passed 5,000 subscriptions. We have also been able to raise money to support others this year:
June 2020: £1,000 donation to Creative Access (a social enterprise working with under-represented communities in the creative industries) as tangible support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
May 2020 and ongoing: £250 raised for NHS charities together through sales of AYWMC face coverings.
April 2020 284 free subscriptions given to key-workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, to Emma’s Mindful Photography course (£125 each; total value £35,500).
March 2020: £1,260 raised to send support direct to frontline healthcare workers in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.
January 2020: £550 donated to the Australian bush fire relief fund, the profit from one day’s sales of AYWMC books.
Click here to read the breakdown of all of AYWMC’s giving since 2018.
What’s next
Virtual community
We recognise that social distancing is going to be a way of life for the foreseeable future. We see our many members who will need to stay at home long after most of us can carefully start to venture further from home. A Year With My Camera will continue to be accessible and supportive.
Emma is planning more online events for the AYWMC community, starting with an online Creativity Summit in the Autumn. This will focus on the coronacoaster (the wildly fluctuating states of mind we have all experienced during the pandemic) and the effect this has had on creativity and motivation.
Stop Hate For Profit
The Black Lives Matter movement means we are acknowledging our privilege and will be doing better. A first step has been that AYWMC has joined the Stop Hate For Profit campaign and won’t be advertising on Facebook or Instagram until they stop being a platform for racists to incite violence. This is a big step for a small business like AYWMC. Facebook has provided affordable advertising for us to reach new members. We expect to see a drop in new members in the short term – but long-term, platforms like Pinterest will provide alternative advertising opportunities.
How can you help?
Tell your friends about AYWMC. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Send them to AYearWithMyCamera.com to sign up for the next class.
Buy the workbooks - search “A Year With My Camera” on Amazon.
Join the app - £4.99 for a year’s subscription
A year of free photography lessons
Join Emma Davies’s A Year With My Camera here and get started today. You’ll come for the lessons and stay for the community:
