I am massively behind on blog posts, especially on the personal ones. This shoot is from October last year, where I’ve spent a long afternoon with this amazing French mama, her 3 year old girl and the newest addition to the family, gorgeous baby boy only a few weeks old. I arrived just before dad was heading out for work, and the rest of the day it was just Annelise and her babies, and me with my camera, catching the moments as they occurred: playing, feeding, changing, cooking, rocking to sleep, walking to the nursery and the rest of the everyday life with the kids. Think it’s boring? I disagree. The everyday is beautiful, you just have to open your eyes and see it.
As a portrait photographer, I often feel the pressure to get just the shot for the families that hire me, and rightly so! On personal shoots such as these, the pressure is off (both for me and for the family being photographed), and I allow myself to be just the observer, a wallflower if you wish… there is absolutely nothing staged, just the real moments, as they happened, and how I saw them through my eyes. When the pressure if off you as a parent for your kids to “behave” in the limited time slot, the best of you – the real beautiful you – shines through. You relax, your children feel you being relaxed, and they don’t mind that person with a big black camera snapping away, because they are allowed to do things they want to do, the things you normally do together with them, every day.
I will let the photographs tell you the rest of the story, and my passion for the unstaged family photographs…
This year, I want to start offering “The Day in the Life” sessions; which will last from breakfast until bedtime, and in a very much photo-journalistic manner I will capture your family as you go about your day – a very special memory to have as your babies turn into toddlers and then teenagers and don’t want a kiss goodnight anymore! I will post more details about these sessions soon, but in the meantime if you’re interested in one for yourself, please do get in touch for more information.
Thank you so much Antonina for those amazing pictures! It is going to be something to look at them again when my babies will be all grown up, and to share them one day with my grand children!! We had a great day with you and an amazing result!!!
We had such a lovely time with you and we are so pleased with the amazing photos!!! One day we will share them with my grown ups and later with my grand children! It is great memories for ever to keep! Thank you so much for making this day so very special! X
This is a beautiful and moving blog, Antonina, thank you! This is such a wonderful photo shoot to have. Life is not comprised of pose-y occasions. What we forget as time goes by are the day to day things. The sounds, smells, funny faces. How it was. We had a day in the life of session with you a few years ago, and now when we look back at those images, it’s wonderful for all of us – kids and adults. The children say ‘remember that toy!’ or ‘Look at how little you were. So chubby!’ For any of you thinking about it, seriously, book it. We look at these photos much more than the staged and posed ones. I look forward to more blogs!