Before and After - Pandemic Looks in Photography

by Skip Cohen​

It's a typical Sunday morning. If you're new to Reflections, be warned: I always go off track, typically writing about something other than business and marketing in imaging. This morning is too good not to share, and if you have fun with this and get involved, then I'll take credit - if you hate the idea, it's all Glen Clark's fault! LOL

Glen and I have been friends since a meeting at Kodak in the early nineties. We've worked on different projects together, caught up at various shows/conferences, and shared a bunch of meals together. And we grab a phone call with each other regularly. We've had a lot of great ideas and laughs over a twenty-five-year friendship, and we're not letting the pandemic slow us down.

Yesterday he sent me the images below and wrote:

Oh thank God...I finally got a haircut today.  I still think you should do some "before and after"
Covid looks on your blog. I think it'd be hilarious (and eye-opening).

​So, I'm running with the idea. Let's start our own gallery of photographers with BP (Before Pandemic) and AP (After Pandemic) images of haircuts, beards, anything fun in the grooming category. Everyone has been forced to let their hair grow through some part of the mandatory or voluntary quarantine. 

Here at our house, I finally trusted Sheila to cut my hair. As Florida's Covid-19 numbers spike again, we're not going to the barber/salon. But I have to admit, she's cut my hair twice, and she's getting good at it. And if she screws up - who cares? Nobody's close enough to see it anyway!

Then I remembered a month ago another great friend, Melissa Ghionis shared her "BP" and "AP" hair. She wrote on Facebook:

About 14 weeks without a haircut (since WPPI!!!) made for a very rough "growing out stage"!
Thankfully Jerry doesn't love me for my looks.
​And also thankfully Todd White is an amazing man and made me look like me again.

​Sadly, Lucy didn't do quite as well as the rest of us when I bought a dog grooming kit. Fortunately, the mirrors are all too high for her to reach and see herself. Otherwise, we'd have a case of puppy PTSD on our hands. I definitely took too much off the top, but she seems to have forgiven me so far.

​So, how brave are you? Let's have some fun with this and share your before and afters...and if you're still in the before mode, share the image anyway. Send it to me in an IM on Facebook. Let's get an industry gallery going, with no other purpose than having fun.

Remember, "fun?" It's a word that's too often lost, especially over the last few months. Time to get it back!

Wishing everybody a day filled with a few laughs and simply having fun. We'll get through this crisis, and while we'll never look back and laugh, that doesn't mean we can't have a few chuckles NOW! Thank you for following me; thank you for your support and, most importantly, thank you for helping me stay focused on what's important - this morning, a little laughter!

Stay safe and healthy!

Happy Sunday!