CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Spring wedding season wasn't as busy this year after many people postponed or even cancelled weddings due to the pandemic. Now, a lot of wedding photographers are playing catch-up with business, including Olivia Harding, of Cedar Rapids.
"March through June was pretty much a wash as far as all of my weddings go," said Harding.
Now, many wedding photographers like Harding are working as many weddings as they can to make up for lost time, whether or not their clients plan to have a party where guests mask up or social distance.
"It’s their wedding, so I’m going to support whatever they choose to do, because I’m there to do a job that they hired me for," she said.
Harding says some weddings are fully-masked, others, not at all. As for herself, she chooses to always wear one.
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"I do have family members that have immunocompromised systems, so I would rather be more cautious," said Harding. "Also, I have to shoot other people’s weddings, so I don’t want to have to cancel on other people because I got COVID, you know?"
Harding also says she uses longer camera lenses to capture the most intimate moments from a safe distance without compromising the quality of the photography. She also put up a page on her website specifically addressing COVID-19 safety concerns.
"What they’re going to get is no less just because I’m doing what I want to do to protect myself," said Harding.
Harding says she knows COVID-19 means different things to each person, and ultimately, she says she is encouraged by seeing many couples taking the initiative to be safe.
"I think the last half of this year people are kind of like, we’re gonna get married no matter what--whether that means they downsize their wedding to have the people that they want most there because of the situation, then that’s great."