February 27th, 2021Kyle’s Rant
We largely relied upon our editorial subjects to shoot themselves (in a photographic way) or because we have now notched up almost nine years of servitude at TL HQ we have a huge supply of stock shots. Some of the shoots went back to the beginnings of TL so we also provided a service in making people young again.
Some other tricks we used were to shoot at 30 paces, usually a bit rough but it gets the job done and I made good use of the Glenlyon Reserve with its trees for shelter from the wind and rain, and open space when the sun is not directly overhead causing harsh shadowing.
It seems I have once again waffled off track. My point is that the camera equipment is fairly new to me again. And when I arrived at this particular photoshoot the (unnamed subject) commented that I looked a little tired. That was news to me, so I finished up the job, returned back to TL HQ and started reflecting on the year that was 2020.
So, last February we kind of knew that there was likely to be a pandemic sweeping the world, however, like everyone we ploughed on with a “business as usual” mindset. Last March just after we had finished producing The Little Local, House.Land.Home. and a bumper TL, the biggest page count ever, we went down to Lorne for some R&R with no phones or emails for four whole days. Or so we hoped.
The second morning into the stay we got a call from Donna’s mother Betty: “Have you seen the news today?” And of course the news was the pandemic ripping its way through Spain and the Ruby Princess making landfall in Sydney, so that was the end of the break, we packed up, went over the bay to Frankston to check on Betty and drove back home.
So, since the middle of March 2020, it has been a busy and scary time for a lot of people and a restful and scary time for others. It almost seems like there has been two classes of experiences for people – those who had no choice but to remain under the doona and those who have had to “pivot” their lives and business. We certainly fall into the latter.
At TL HQ, on the back of not getting the R&R we desperately needed, we turned our paper from fortnightly to weekly, to keep the community properly informed (not Facebook informed).
We also started a podcast, reworked our online presence with a beautiful experience known as www.tlnews.com.au, committed to our social media presence to keep things light and continued to never miss a beat publishing The Little Local, House.Land.Home. and The Local. And this all happened in a year we lost our third musketeer, Betty, but then made friends with four magpies who we named as they joined us for 5.30pm drinks during the winter. A crazy year.
So yes, I think I am tired, rant over…
