When I started to think about this topic I felt a little overwhelmed… after all, I’ve taken a gazillion photos over my lifetime and loads of them would be on the short list. But two photos really spring to mind because of how they make me feel.

One of my favourite things to do is look through old photos… the older the better and my parents have some corkers! My family always had boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads and I can chart my whole childhood through those photos and we also have some really good ones of loved ones who are no longer with us. Especially my Uncle Tommy who was always making me laugh with his antics!

There aren’t many photos that exist when I was a baby but as time moved on, photography became more accessible and I started snapping away as I got older. Nowadays of course we have powerful cameras and video in our hand all the time… I think it’s amazing! I know we are mostly posting on Social Media these days but it’s still a memory captured and frozen for another time. And how cool is ‘time hop’ or ‘memories’ on Facebook!! I love it.

So the power of photography has always stuck with me from an early age and it’s probably no surprise I took a career swerve to become a photographer. It’s such an incredible feeling to know I am taking photos that will become part of another families precious memories.

So what are my favourite photos I hear you ask? Well I’ve chosen two and it’s probably no surprise to those that know me that one of them is my lovely Dad.

My Dad was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia in 2014 and although it wasn’t a huge shock (the signs were there) my family had a lot to digest. When you get this diagnosis you feel overwhelmed and very in the dark about what you are meant to do. Suddenly my Mam and I found ourselves talking about wills and care homes and benefits and I had a lot of sleepless nights (and still do).

Dementia is a horrible disease that slowly strips away the person you once were and it affects your loved ones so much. Instead of my parents enjoying a relaxed and happy retirement that they worked bloody hard for, my mam is now a full time carer and there is a limit to what they can do on a daily basis. It literally breaks my heart and is a stark reminder that you should never take anything for granted and live for the moment.

Now I don’t want to dwell on the negatives as this is not how I choose to live and it certainly doesn’t help anyone. What my Dad needs is love and affection. No, he deserves it. He worked hard for his family since he was 20 until his heart attack in 2007 and now it’s our turn to look after him. At the moment he is generally happy and well looked after by my Mam who is a ROCK for the family. I need to write a WHOLE blog post about her!!!

Dad makes me laugh all the time as he still has a good sense of humour and I try and spend as much time as possible with my parents. So a few months back I eventually got my Dad into the studio and I took a few photos, and even though he probably didn’t know what was happening he posed so well! His younger grandchildren (my nieces) were also with him so I made a memory for them too.

My Dad is slowly leaving us…but we’ll never leave him.

And now for my 2^nd favourite photo and it’s quite a flukey photo really!!

My daughter Christy is a fabulous fire-breather and I couldn’t be more proud when I see her performing although I admit it scares the living daylights out of me! How she got into this I don’t know but she’s really talented and has trained others too. She’s also amazing with a hoola hoop too and forever learning new tricks. She says it has a calming effect on her and it’s probably how I feel when taking photos. One thing I would love to do more of is take a lot more photos of Christy performing so watch out for this later this year!

This photo came about as Christy was performing at a local car show a few years back. I had my DSLR camera with me but my battery died and I swapped to my iphone. I thought this inflatable would make a brilliant backdrop but never expected it to turn out like it did! The expression is hilarious!

Christy uploaded it to Reddit and it was seen by about ONE MILLION people and it was even made into a meme!

If you want to see more of Christy performing then check out her Instagram feed HERE. She takes bookings for events too so drop her a line if you need a fire performer!

So what is YOUR favourite photo? Maybe it’s not been taken yet!

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Tiny Baby Studio is based in Newcastle upon Tyne and I take bookings newborns, babies, and milestones like first birthday, family portraits for all ages and also weddings.

If you would like to book a session then please get in touch with me at Tiny Baby Studio or, check out my Facebook page to keep up with everything that goes on in the studio.