If you read my blog regularly, you know that I'm not the kind of photographer who cranks out hundreds of sessions a month. I've never been interested in a high-volume business, though many such studios are very successful, and some of them do very good work. Personally, though, that environment wouldn't work for me. I believe that real portraits require getting to know your subjects... and this portrait of Neepa, John, Alex & Asha, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly why:

When someone asks me to create a set of portraits for them, I ask in turn that they take the time to complete a long-ish questionnaire, which includes questions ranging from the names of everyone who will be included and what their individual interests are to how their home is decorated and what they like to do on lazy Saturday mornings. The answers to these questions give me a good sense of the dynamics of a family and how I can best capture them in a way that reflects who they really are. In response to my question "What do you want to remember about your family life right now?", Neepa wrote "The chaos and the fun", and for me, the above picture is pure chaos, and pure fun.

Quoted from other parts of their questionnaire:

"The amazing thing is that childhood goes by so fast that you don't realize it until you see it in a picture..." "...like the picture on the swings. The idea of wanting to fly so high, it's almost crazy to watch their expressions...""Then there's the moments of a parent with a child. They can drive you wild, but those pictures can show you the amazing bond between parent and child."

And finally: "I want to remember the time when they really needed both of us and we needed them. The way they run to us for boo-boos or to tell us the newest thing that they learned in school. I want to remember them learning to ride big kid bikes, going across the monkey bars, and doing forward rolls. Those moments where you can see that they are connecting the dots and making those connections that will last them a life time. And I want to remember the time when they were still both smaller than me, so that I could snuggle with the both of them."

This is why I love my job. Thank you, Neepa & John... it was a true pleasure capturing these memories for you  :D

xox,

annemie