Photos with Mum
As another Mother’s Day is in touching distance, I’ve been thinking about all of the family photographs I’ve taken over the years. Sometimes customers send me pictures of the images they’ve framed and put up in their homes after a shoot with me, which I love to see, and it made me wonder - what makes certain captures so prominent in our lives? Over a lifetime, we collect so many photographs…so what is it that makes some of them our favourites?
I asked some of my best friends to send me a photo of themselves with their mums, and I’ve added them in the gallery below. Anyone who knows me knows I love old film photographs (remember when you had to get them developed?!) as for some reason they seem to carry more meaning. That said, I think there are a number of other reasons why some photos just live in our heads and on our walls in the age of digital.
Special occasions (aka happy memories!) They’re often the time we all get together these days in the age where families don’t necessarily live down the road from each other. Remembering to get a photo with everybody in is priceless. I photographed an event recently where there were 30 cousins altogether! It was a rare occurrence so we made sure a photo was taken, and now each of them has a copy to look back on in years to come.
People who are no longer with us. Photographs and memories are stablemates and a comfort to have when our loved ones pass away, especially if they document a short-lived generational bond.
A photograph of a special friend at a point in time. I still have photo booth pictures with my best friend when I was nine years old. When I look at them I’m taken right back in time.
Nostalgia in general - bad hair? Check. School disco makeup cringe? Check. Shell suits? Check. Noughties fashion on a girl’s holiday? Oh yes. All-nighters at university? The evidence is all there!!
Back to the generational thing - pictures of holidays with your mum/dad/aunties/uncles/cousins. They may seem like snapshots now but look back on them in 10 years and I promise you’ll feel very differently.
A sense of place. When I was little we used to have days out at Brimham Rocks (which I still love now). Having family photos in these places can show you how little - or how much - somewhere has changed.
You look nice. Vanity, plain and simple. Who doesn’t want to be in a flattering photo?!
Hearing the ‘ooh don’t you look like…’ comments and realising they’re absolutely true. Ever seen your parents as babies? Now put a photograph of yourself next to them!
If you’re in the market for some updated family photographs, I am shooting at Golden Acre Park on 23 March in the spring flowers. Perfect for Mother’s Day! You can find more details here.
