Yes, it’s possible and safe to document your family’s milestones

When the lockdown happened, senior citizens and children were prohibited to go out of the house for their safety. What more for families with newborn babies? In a normal setting, parents would be overzealous to book an appointment and have a photoshoot to commemorate this
joyous occasion. But now that we are in a pandemic, should parents still push through with documenting these adorable moments?

Manila Bulletin Lifestyle asked Cocoon Studio’s marketing manager Patricia Infante to share their first action steps when quarantine started. “We communicated with our clients who booked and worked on rescheduling their dates to another time with no additional charge. We wanted to
make sure that all our clients are safe in terms of working with a new schedule. Most of them moved their shoots to next year when everything is much safer.”

Since none of us have gone through a crisis like this before, the photography studio decided to stop operations and observe what was happening first, including realigning with the team and holding virtual meetings to talk about safety protocols. Despite the shoot hiatus, the company kept themselves busy with Instagram live talks with different personalities such as Bianca Gonzalez, Kelly Misa, and Andi Manzano. “We tackled different topics and wanted to ask how they are and how they were coping up. It was a good way to have a sense of normalcy. We also communicated with our clients and asked how they were and talked about their events that didn’t push through. It was a good way to talk to people and communicate,” adds Patricia. Their team of photographers also kept themselves busy. Their senior photographer Hershey shared that she still practices shooting every day. She would also binge-watched on YouTube photography related tutorials and signed up for online classes. I would keep shooting food, home baked pastries, my nephew, and even self portraits to keep my creative juice flowing.”

They only started to shoot again around the last week of May when GCQ and MECQ were lifted. Prior to the actual shoots, they met a few times to road test the new protocols. Confident enough with the test run, they accepted their very first booking on May 21. It was for a baptism with only one photographer allowed inside. They were ready with zoom camera lenses to make sure they follow social distancing. “We’ve done newborns, baptism, birthdays, and family portraits with safety as our priority. We wear full protection gear during shoots and wash them right after every shoot. All items that we bring are sanitized and sterilized to secure extra safety for our Cocoon families.” They also added that the only “out of the house” agenda was the booked shoots. “It’s more of making sure that you are safe and that your clients are safe around you as well and vice versa,” adds Patricia.

Patricia and Hershey also shared that their youngest baby model had been seven days old since GCQ was lifted. “This was a newborn shoot. We always ask the family if our baby whisperer (Patricia) can touch the baby during the shoot. Should they agree, we secure their safety by having alcohol beside us at all times to sanitize after every movement,” says Hershey. “For us, family portraits are precious and lovely. We always make it a point to include a family portrait session in every shoot, especially when the grandparents are there or the extended family. It’s always a joyous moment to have them together smiling and laughing. It’s moments like these that we capture and have them keep forever. It’s what we feel that is essential as families are one of the most important things you can ever have and cherish,” ends Patricia.

Cocoon Studio is run by top wedding photographer Pat Dy, Nelwin Uy, and Jayson Arquiza. For bookings, send an email to [email protected]