This week’s photograph was taken by Douglas Young, capturing a Blue Tit and Wasp sharing an apple in West Tanfield, Ripon.

Douglas Young

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

When Rachel Mundy was made redundant during the first lockdown, she decided to embark on a major career change.

She had always toyed with the idea of photography and, after 15 years in fashion, decided this was her moment.

Rachel, from Harrogate, set up Boo Boo Photography and rented a studio where she could do shoots of babies and families.

Another of Rachel’s pre-lockdown family shoots. Photograph: Boo Boo Photography

She said:

“There was massive anxiety because I was no longer in my full time job and that feeling of being without security is difficult.”

But her plans were thrown up in the air again when the second lockdown was announced suddenly.

She had only officially set-up business in the last week of October and just as she was trying to build momentum, everyone’s movements were restricted again.

So she went back to the drawing board and decided to start offering doorstep photoshoots in the hope she could continue building her business safely during lockdown. She says:

“I was feeling really down. I thought I’d need to get another job but my husband convinced me to stick with it.”

Read more:

• Lockdown Stories: Harrogate DJ forced to swap his decks for twins. 
• His image of the night sky won Tai Ripon Grammar School’s Lockdown Photography Competition.

Christmas doorstep shoots are among her offerings now. She is donating 10% of profits to Leeds Cares, the charity of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, in honour of a friend’s son who is battling cancer.

Christmas doorstep shoots are allowing Rachel to continue earning. Photograph: Boo Boo Photography

Rachel’s struggle has brought her closer to other small, local businesses who have offered to collaborate on projects. She says working with other businesses in the same situation has been a positive experience:

“There’s been so many other small businesses working together and seeing how we can help each other. It’s kept me positive too as I know I’m not alone.”

Do you have a lockdown story to tell? Get in touch at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk as we’d love to hear from you.

A photographer has put her skills to good use and given away 150 free doorstep photoshoots over lockdown.

Nikki Mitchell started by photographing her mum and her husband’s parents, and quickly realised the need for families to see their loved ones whilst they couldn’t visit in person.

She began offering shoots locally to her in Kirk Hammerton and gave any donations to Harrogate charity Autism Angels. With the events she would usually photograph on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, Nikki has been offering free photoshoots to key workers.

She said:

“At the beginning of lockdown, I did doorstep photoshoots locally to me – there was a total of 150 families. After that I did a few family shoots locally.

“I arranged a free day of photos for key workers in a park and 15 booked in. But people slowly cancelled and the weather wasn’t ideal so they all got gift cards instead to redeem later on. The free shoots were my way of helping people, making connections and chatting to people.

“At the time, it was important to make people smile. It just escalated and now I know I’ll be secure after all of this.”

Nikki’s doorstep photoshoots helped people see their families when they were unable to in person.

Read more:

• Ripon’s photography competition is asking its residents to submit a photo to display what living through lockdown means to them.
• HELP charity has helped over 500 families over lockdown and is preparing for an increase as it eases further. 

As lockdown eased, Nikki began to offer socially distant photoshoots in parks and gardens, managing to continue to earn money in a safe way.

“Many of the family shoots take one hour, but I was only doing quick 15 minute shoots for families in a park and they worked really well. School shoots have been popular too, now schools are back – I set a date and time and the parents bring their children along.

“I’ve done newborn shoots, engagements, birth announcements and birthdays. So even over lockdown I’ve been able to capture special moments that were missed by their families.”