I’m currently talking to a journalist for an article about the positives and negatives of photographing the weddings of friends and family. It is something I have done several times and, whilst I have always enjoyed it, sometimes balancing your roles as guest and photographer can be tricky.
Fortunately the same cannot be said of photographing the children of people you know. Doing this, particularly of newborns, is purely a treat and privilege. It’s always exciting to meet a new baby but when they are the child of a long term friend, when I look into their face and see traces of people I have known and loved for years, I think this is the most amazing job I could imagine.
I recently photographed the newborn baby of my oldest friend. Her mother and my mother have been friends since school and were pregnant with us at the same time. There’s a wonderful picture of our mums standing bump to bump – we almost knew each other before we were born. Meeting her daughter and photographing her was probably the most emotional newborn session I have done. As an only child, this is the closest I get to a niece on my side of the family.
Welcome to the world, little one. We’ve been waiting for you.
