Family photoshoot with a two year old in Yorkshire.
What a difference a year makes! if you remember Ella-Rose from last year, you will see the difference! I am lucky enough to have photographed this couple for the last 9 years. Their engagement shoot, wedding, pregnancy. Ella as a baby, then a toddler, and now this fierce, brave, funny, loving two year old.
It was really moving because these dear people, whom I count as friends now, are moving to Canada. I really wanted to see them before they left and they managed to fit me in the week before the big move. I hope I’ll get to go and see them over there- and take photos of course.
So of course we made the most of it: capturing the last times in their home, their beautiful garden, the woods and fields around them too- which gave beautiful backgrounds for the photoshoot. Ella took to me. I can’t believe she remembered me but I do love kids and let them take their time to suss out if they can trust me and play with me. She chased me all the way back home, kept me running and laughing.
I love the way her parents give her both the safety she needs and the freedom to explore- with the unavoidable falls- They are a wonderful couple and parents, I’m awed by them. I also know how kind a friend they are, living their Christian faith every moment.
In the woods, Ella climbed, and explored, and set her sights higher than dad. In the fields, she ran and stopped to see the little things, some flower, a wheat head, totally in the moment, enjoying each thing fully. Of course this is hungry work so we fed her before heading to the place where we’d done the maternity photoshoot. It was very moving going back with her, and saying goodbye to these beautiful hills. Last time we were there, there was snow on the ground. This time was only slightly warmer but the heathers weren’t pink yet.
See if you can spot how the parents’ expressions are so much more alive when they look at their beautiful daughter than when they look at the camera. That’s why I prefer people looking at their loved ones, however much we like each other.