Lizzie booked me for a family photography session when the the ground was still frozen and the last remnants of Christmas were being packed away into lofts to patiently wait out another year. She wanted to wait for her littlest to be walking, Lizzie had seen family photography and wanted her little tribe captured in the same way. Just a couple of perfect moments of a perfectly lazy Saturday morning captured and frozen in time. On a beautiful summers day, I walked from my car into a sleepy little street, and knocked on the door. A grinning Lizzie answered and showed me to the kitchen, where two little cherubs and daddy sat eating their breakfast. The sun shone through the house, bathing it natural light. Both girls flashed their beautiful eyes at me and instantly smiled. One was at an age where children become aware of the camera, but that didn’t stop her being perfectly natural moments later. She went back to poking around the birthday cake and looking after her baby sister. The tenderness between the little girls was beautiful to witness. The older of the two helping her sister with her wellies, making sure she was stable enough not to fall over, entertaining her. The little one in turn did the same for their naked dolly. Their daddy went about his day helping to dress them, brush their teeth and just be there in the beautifully calm chaos only children are able to create. I wonder for a brief moment if my oldest will look after his unborn sister in the same way. This house is consumed by these little beings, they are everywhere and in every thing. From the little duck watering cans, to the ‘I love you this much’ books in the sitting room. I explained to Lizzie what a ‘lifestyle’ shoot was about, that I would follow them in their house and capture connections, emotional connections. She laughed and compared it to a ‘at home’ session in Hello Magazine. If this made the family nervous, it certainly did not show. There wasn’t a posed photo or a cheesy smile that day. The little tribe were completely relaxed and it shows in the photographs. You see real life isn’t studios, love doesn’t live in a studio. Love lives in that garden where the little girls play on their bikes. Love lives on the tiny little sofa in the living room. Love lives in the teepee full of crazy toys.

Love lives in the four walls these two girls will grow up in. When these beautiful girls no longer need their mummy and daddy to help them reach their cups, when their mummy and daddy are relaxing with a glass of wine, dodging their grandparent duties I hope they will be able to look back at these photos and remember a perfect day.