Family Portrait – A Moment with My Mum

Just before Christmas last year, I treated myself to a new camera and a set of studio lighting equipment. I spent hours in our unheated garage setting everything up, carefully arranging each light, checking each angle – and then I realised I was missing one crucial thing: a model.

Without hesitation, my mum put on her vest and agreed to help. It was the middle of an English winter, her hair slightly unkempt, wearing her everyday housekeeping clothes. She stood in front of my lens, staring straight into it with quiet strength. At that moment, she had just turned 70.

My mum was the youngest daughter in her family, with three older siblings. She was the last to marry, but the first to divorce, and she never remarried. At 46 – just three years older than I am now – she sent me to England. Her way of parenting, shaped by her generation, has always been about the children first. She rarely thought of herself.

Now, as she grows older and more fragile, I sometimes wish she had cared more for herself and lived a richer lifestyle that I could admire from time to time. Yet, when I look into her eyes in this portrait, I see determination. She has been a mother, a carer for both the young and the elderly, and someone who has weathered years of tears and joy.

This image is more than just a photograph. It’s a lifestyle portrait that captures not just her appearance, but her story. And every mother, every child, every family has a story worth telling.

If you’d like me to help you tell yours, I’d love to create a family portrait that holds not only faces, but memories, emotions, and love. Ping me a message – let’s capture your story with light.

my portrait & studio work