Hempfield photographer found innovative way to stay in business during pandemic
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series highlighting five people whose lives were reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic.
Back before the covid pandemic slammed the economy and limited what people could do outside their homes, Dennis Pushkar expected that his Impressions Photography would build on what had been a really good year in 2019.
“We have a very faithful clientele,” he said, with a strong demand for family photos and high school senior portraits.
Pushkar, 60, has owned the business along Radebaugh Road in Hempfield, between Greensburg and Jeannette, for 34 years.
When Gov. Tom Wolf closed schools for two weeks in late March, “I did not take it too seriously,” he said, because it was only going to be for two weeks. While the virus was spreading in New York City and had reached Pittsburgh, there were very few cases in Westmoreland County.
Bookings for senior portraits usually start in March and April, which typically adds up to more than 250 students. They didn’t seem to be threatened in their early days of the shutdown.
Two weeks and everything would reopen, was the feeling.
But there were dark clouds on the horizon. On April 9, Wolf ordered schools to close for the remainder of the school year, forcing school districts to instruct students online. Extracurricular activities like sports and proms — both great opportunities for photographers — were canceled.
Cheerleaders who wanted their picture taken at their school — which could be dozens in a good year — “were all gone this year.”
“Seniors had reservations for portraits, but they were unable to get their hair done or go to tanning salons,” Pushkar recalled this month while seated in a studio with portraits on just about every available space on the walls and shelves.
As if that was not bad enough for a photographer whose business benefits from a healthy dose of portraits of students and families, the Wolf administration ordered the closing of businesses like his, which were classified as “non-essential.” Westmoreland County’s tight restrictions due to the higher level of community spread of the virus were not loosened until early June.
He understood that the restrictions were intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but he believed that “it can be overreaching.”
“I do think it (shutdown) went on too long. I’m creative. I just can’t sit at home,” said Pushkar, a native of the Fayette County community of Washington Township and a Belle Vernon Area graduate.
When the economy opened back up in June, Pushkar took photos while remaining socially distant with his camera and wearing a mask at his log cabin studio.
The 18 acres of property he leases, once home to the Rustic Log Home log cabin-building business, allows for photographs in a variety of outdoor settings. There are props galore — an old truck, a wooden bridge, a stream, a pond, wooden doors of varying colors and fields of countless flowers.
With the class of 2020 photos so disrupted, Pushkar came up with an innovative idea once the restrictions were lifted: a free photo session in return for the students bringing a non-perishable food item.
“It gave the class of 2020 something to look forward to,” Pushkar said.
It was so successful, Puskar said, that he was able to fill a truck full of food items and deliver them to the Greater Works Church in Monroeville for its food bank.
The effects of the pandemic lingered, Pushkar said, even after restrictions were loosened. Families who wanted to have portraits at their homes did not want someone else coming inside for fear of bring the virus with them, so many sessions were done outdoors.
Some of his clients who normally would book photo sessions had to cancel or postpone this year because of a reduction in their income or a loss of job, Pushkar said. Some clients ordered few photographs to reduce their expenses.
He had to reduce hours for his staff and was able to land some money from the Paycheck Protection Program, which helped to keep the staff paid. A planned Christmas staff party at a local restaurant went by the wayside.
Pushkar has not closed the books yet on 2020, but he can see that his business “took a big hit … about 15% drop.”
The restrictions also impacted his wife, Jane, who operates Johnathan Michael’s Boutique — named after their son — in the Norwin Hills Shopping Center in North Huntingdon, where the family lives. The store has enough space to allow the social distancing while clients shop, Pushkar said.
“A lot of the clientele at my photo studio and my wife’s boutique have been very faithful in supporting our small businesses,” Pushkar said.
The governor’s recent restrictions eliminating dining inside for the remainder of the year and into the new year is going to hurt employers and their workers again, and that will have a ripple effect on the economy.
“The impact has been tremendous,” he noted.
People are pinning their hopes for a recovery in 2021 on the coronavirus vaccine. As for how he expects the new year will unfold for his business, Pushkar is taking a “wait-and-see” attitude. There are so many factors beyond his control, but he remains ”cautiously optimistic.”
“I expect we will still be social distancing,” he said. “The days of shaking hands are pretty much over.
”We just wish that people remain healthy and be safe.”
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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