I consider myself an incredibly fortunate person, to be present in people’s lives, telling their stories and giving them a visual heirloom to continue the storytelling for generations to come. I feel joyous whenever a family selects me for this task out of the many talented photographers in the world. They saw something in my work, in my personality, that caused them to believe I would be the best choice for them and it never stops being such an honour.

This was never more true than during my recent Autumn family lifestyle session with the Bowen family. Danielle and I had met many years ago in our early twenties via a mutual friend and I was beyond delighted to receive an enquiry telling me that she and Ian loved what they saw of my work and would love to book their own shoot.

It is always my aim for my sessions to be fun and relaxed. The girls arrived primed and excited about photos which is always so lovely. They took off running and chattering to me, and I silently gave thanks for my ongoing fitness regime which allowed me to run with them both up and down the beautiful pathways and hills as they played and I photographed! :D

I was able to capture not only the action shots of them playing (and singing Humpty Dumpty), but also those beautiful moments with each of their parents where, often unaware of me, their love for each other burst out of the images. This kind of photograph is what I call the perfect image. Perfect because of the absolute authenticity of the emotions it captures.

When I met with them to deliver their images, Danielle singled out a particular photograph and told me the deeper, personal meaning for her. It was a truly special moment, I felt doubly privileged, to have had the opportunity to create the image and also to hear what it meant to the family. As I was returning home, this email arrived in my inbox, and I share it now with their permission.

Michelle,

We would like to say a huge thank you for being our photographer. We couldn’t have found a better person, who worked so well with our two precious girls. One who usually quite shy and one that is too active and can’t focus for more than 20 seconds! You did an amazing job! 

You have captured some amazing moments of our family which we will now be  able to treasure forever and you are so correct- there is more to a photograph than just a simple picture! We love every photo you have taken and the shoot was fun for all of us! We look forward to having you take more photos of our family in the future.

Danielle, Ian, Jayde and Amber xx