Michelle Betlem Photography

Hi Everyone! I am volunteering with ODAWG (harmonydogpark.ca) this week to take pictures at Harmony Valley Dog Park in Oshawa. These pictures will be used in the 2021 ODAWG calendar. Proceeds from the pictures and the sale of the calendars support the maintenance of this amazing off leash dog park. All paid picture submissions ($10) are guaranteed a spot in the calendar. So, if you want to get your pup in a calendar and support a wonderful community space, come down to Harmony Valley Dog Park tomorrow 6-7 p.m., Thurs 3-4 p.m. or Fri 3-4 p.m. Hope to see you and your pups there!

This beautiful picture of this gorgeous couple has nothing to do with the post you are about to read lol ... Just a great photo I wanted to share :) You may or may not have noticed that I haven't posted on any of my channels for a while now. A couple of months ago I made the decision to take a step back from social media. Back in March, there was a lot of uncertainty around how long the pandemic would go on and what restrictions would look like. There was a lot of change hap...pening all at once and I needed to focus my time and energy on my family, my community, my clients, and my own self care. The uncertainty that COVID brought triggered a whole wack of emotions for me. I was anxious when my father became ill and about my husband going to work every day serving the public. I was heartbroken for my clients who had to make the difficult decisions to change their wedding plans. I was devastated for the families forced to stay apart and the people who were dealing with loss or illness. I was stressed about my other job (for way too many reasons to list here) and worried that my brand new photography business was going to struggle. Being on social media when this whole thing kicked off, it was clear that people were impacted on a variety of levels and in different ways. Some people went on with business as usual, others became way more active on social media, and others, like me, seemed a bit uncertain and started to pull away. Often, the energy and ambition I saw on my feed did not match how I felt. So rather than continue to put pressure on myself to do what others were doing, I made the conscious decision to avoid social media. I hope that by sharing this, others who may have had similar feelings might see this and find comfort in knowing that they are not alone. Also, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still here and I am thinking of you all with the hopes that you are well and finding balance, self-love, and happiness during these difficult times.