Thursday, December 31, 2020

The Best Things of 2020

 

Photographer Krista Kowalczyk on Sanibel Island


Happy New Year! It's the last day of 2020 and I have one last family portrait today and then Impressions Photography is officially closed for the year (until our next wedding on January 3rd anyway!). I know 2020 wasn't the year any of us expected but I found some silver linings along the way that made it all a little better for me. It was really an honor to be a part of the weddings that I photographed this year. Many looked a lot different than they originally were planned. Masks and hand sanitizer were in every welcome bag and were a uniquely 2020 party favor, events moved outdoors, guest count was dramatically smaller and making sure I wasn't in the way of the zoom device while I was shooting became a new concern. Amidst all of those changes was also this overwhelming feeling of wanting to love and celebrate hard. The general vibe was that the 8 guests in attendance were hell bent on making up for the 130 that could no longer attend. It was the most love filled, appreciative, kind, heartfelt year of my career. Everyone loves to witness love, eat cake and mingle with friends, but this year just being able to be there was enough to be thankful for. Being a part of my 2020 weddings definitely made the year for me.


Another big silver lining in the year was the overwhelming support and encouragement for the community service projects that we did this year. I began 2020 with plans for fundraising events, charity runs and a golf outing all to celebrate Impressions Photography's 20th year in business and to honor the community that has been so supportive over the years. As one by one all of those plans were cancelled I had to quickly shift to other less contact type fundraisers. Thanks to help and great ideas from friends and clients I was able to change many plans to other fun ways to still make a little impact on our world. Even though in the end none of those plans were as grand as I had initially envisioned the fact that they were so well supported made them just as impactful and definitely so meaningful. I'm forever thankful for everyone who helped me with my 2020 goal of making a difference in the world. 


A huge Thank you to everyone who helped me with my community service and fundraising projects! We are ending 2020 with some accomplishments that were definitely a group effort! Thank you for helping Impressions Photography to:

Planted 140 trees in Florida
Donated 25 books to a local school
Raised money to provide over 1,000 meals at Harry Chapin Food Bank
Added a brick to the Alliance for the Arts ArtsPark
Donated 5 goats to a community in Haiti
Supported a Haitian shop that crafts gifts
Raised $1,000 for a scholarship fund
Donated over 25 hours of photography to Big Arts on Sanibel Island
Taught photography to high school students in Fort Myers
Advocated for the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools
Mentored students through the Take Stock in Children Program
Donated portraits to several causes and made monetary donations to multiple organizations









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