The story behind the image
This portrait commission came from Dave, who was a member of the same network group as I was at the time, a very quiet and reserved person. This was to be a surprise gift for his wife, a treasured photograph of their grandchildren.
A date was arranged with Dave’s daughter, Sue to photograph her two young children. Sue had told me that Harry was a “bit shy” and Phoebe was a “bit of a live wire”, no problem I thought, I’m used to working with children.
When they all arrived, the children were the opposite to what their mum and I expected, the young boy Harry was full of beans, he was bright and chatty and really keen to have lots of fun having his picture taken, Phoebe wasn’t so sure, she clung to her mum with all her might. Don’t worry, I said, just give her time, she’ll come around when she sees Harry having such fun and so it was, after about 10 minutes she came across onto the white background, but stood right at the back cautiously watching Harry. My patience was paying off, but I knew I couldn’t leave it too long or Harry would get bored, It must have been another 5 or 10 minutes before she came close and sat next to Harry, getting Harry to encourage his sister to come and join in the fun was the key. There was no stopping her now, she jumped, she sat down and giggled and joined in everything that Harry was doing, I worked fast to get the dream shots that we were after, before either of them got tired or bored, Sue was just behind me reassuring Phoebe and encouraging them both to smile and laugh. We looked through the images on the back of the camera, we’ve got gold Sue and I declared, we were both delighted with the images we saw and called it a wrap. Don’t forget children, don’t say anything to Nana was repeated to them one more time as they left, don’t forget it’s a surprise.
When Dave was presented with the images for him to make his selection he was just blown away, so much so that he wanted them all.
Grandma was delighted with her present, a large framed photograph of her two adorable grandchildren that she can treasure for many years to come. I created an album with the other images that Dave had chosen, something that can frequently be brought out to see and to be taken to family gatherings to everyone to see.
Another day in the office you might think, it is, but it’s just great when it all comes together and everyone is delighted with the results.
