Made With Love
The magic of a photo book.
Last Autumn I collaborated with Ada and we made this little series of images using the costumes her Nana created for her during the first lockdown in 2020. A previous shoot in the Summer holidays inspired the idea to make a book that would celebrate the costumes - a beautiful gift for her Nana that Christmas. So one day in the October half term we took a walk in the Kent countryside; Mum, Dad and her little brother Sammy in tow.
With no specific plan in mind we let the scenery and the mood (and sometimes the wind!) take us. Ada’s love for the costumes meant that she was completely at ease and her movements were testament to how much she had lived in them all over these last two years. It was a joy to watch.
I loved capturing the changes in character that each outfit possessed her with, and this is a perfect example of how photographing children works best when it’s a collaboration. Ada knew who she was and how she wanted to be. And also when she wanted to stop and eat cake.
The series we produced made such a beautiful book; with a mixture of portraits, details and wider landscape shots. It’s often the way that you get a little sequence of movement and it’s difficult to choose just one; making a photo book is a perfect way to include everything you love. I’ve posted a few examples of the spreads below. The final book had 50 pages.
The family sent me a video of the moment Ada’s Nana first saw the book and it was so moving to see how much it meant to her. I may even have got something in my eye.
We landed on the title ‘Made With Love’ - it made perfect sense as every element of the book had been created with just that.
A perfect reminder of why I love being a photographer.
