2020 has been a year of ‘different’, no doubt about that!  So, it seemed an opportunity to embrace different! 

At a children’s birthday party not long before lockdown in the UK, another mum at the party commented that she really liked my photos (mostly of my son) and asked if I took family photos.  At the time, I had only taken photos of my family (all be it loads of them!) and a few shots of a friend’s family for my Photography Diploma a few years ago.  So, I said I didn’t have much experience, but I’d have a think about it. 

Later that week, I asked some fellow female photographers what I should do, and was encouraged 100% to book a session with this family and go and do it.  Then lockdown happened….

Now I had time to think it over properly and soon decided that I really did want to do a family photo session.  After all, I love taking photos of my family and capturing the moments that rush by in a blur, so we can all look back on them in days, weeks, years to come.  The more I thought about it, the more I realised that capturing other people’s stories was something that I would love to do more of.

As luck would have it, an opportunity to join an online course on family photography, from an expert in the field came up, so I jumped at the chance.  It was an investment, but the course was amazing and taught me so much.  Empowered by this, I booked a session with the family on a hot August evening, once our lockdown had started to ease.

I was nervous, but also felt prepared and ready to give it my best shot.  I knew the family well enough that we were all pretty relaxed and we had a lot of fun.  The two girls were an absolute delight as they just wanted to pose for photos everywhere.  They made my job easy, and we spent a happy hour finding spots for photos throughout the park.

I think we all enjoyed it and I had some lovely feedback from them. And here are some of the resulting photos.

I learnt from this that sometimes I need to be shaken out of my comfort zone, and if 2020 has any redeeming features, it’s that it’s taught me that sometimes things are just different!  And sometimes, different can be good. 

But please 2020, I think that’s enough different for now!

Have fun & stay safe

Clare x