Photographing a newborn baby at a house under construction was definitely a first for me.

When H first told me about the idea, I felt a little nervous as she said there were large holes in the floors in some places. My initial thoughts went to safety as they were also bringing their toddler along to the shoot, but…it’s their house, their life, and they know what’s best and safest for their family.

My nervousness turned into excitement about doing something different and unique.

Our aim was to capture photos of their family in the home that they’ve been slowly renovating since their toddler was first born.

It’s been such a big project for their family and the end is nearly in sight for them to finally be able to move in. We wanted to document the family within that space as a marker of how far they’ve come and the work that they’ve put into both creating and nourishing their family as well as providing a loving and safe place for them.

On the day of the shoot, A (the toddler) showed me around the house and showed me his favourite tools. He made cups of tea for us while I photographed dad and baby A solo and ate snacks downstairs with dad while I took photos of mum and baby A solo.

We had group shots of the whole family where toddler A sat in laps pretending to drive the daddy car. I do my best to provide prompts and guidance to make photoshoots fun for kids and engaging for toddlers. Both toddler A and baby A did a fab job on the shoot and we captured a ton of beautiful images. There were silly moments, calm moments, and sweet moments (like when toddler A cuddled up next to mum while she was feeding baby A and held her hand).

If you’d like me to document your family in or around Sheffield, do get in touch.