photography

Finding time to smell the roses... (or tulips!)

Finding time to smell the roses... (or tulips!)

Following two abdominal surgeries, I needed to take a little break from photographing children, as it requires a lot of energy and a certain amount of speed and agility to launch oneself into the positions required to capture spontaneous giggles and moments of fun. So, I turned instead to the flowers that I had been so kindly given to brighten my bedroom. Admittedly, some were past their best by the time I picked up my camera again, but that just seemed to add to their beauty: whilst not conventionally perfect, they had developed a uniqueness as well as an intensity of colour in their wilting (a bit like me, I suppose - a bit sore and damaged, but with a big dab of blusher to cheer up my pale cheeks!). I fell in love with the tiny details of powdery pollen, the diversity of colour within each flower and the elegant curving sweep of the falling petals.

'I'm not perfect, I'm original'

'I'm not perfect, I'm original'

Milk spots, baby acne, dry skin, jaundice, red splotches, scratches, snotty noses, chapped lips, bumped heads…

These are just some of the things that parents worry about when they are considering a photography session for their newborn or child, and I was no different when I had my daughter. I looked at stunning photography on the internet and I looked at my newborn baby, and made the classic mistake of assuming that what I saw online was reality (we’ve all been guilty of that in moments of weakness… usually involving comparing ourselves to some bikini-clad, angel-winged, Victoria Secret’s model!). I felt that my baby came up short (!) and I blamed myself and my novice parenting skills, assuming that I had washed her too much/too little/used the wrong oil for her skin/exposed her to too much dust/dirt/sunshine/detergents etc etc… the list went on (especially in the many wakeful moments during those long first nights!)