Little Bird Photography -capturing the whimsy & wonder of childhood

last year i had the absolute pleasure of photographing families of children with cerebral palsy.  as the calls came in, and i learned more and more about cerebral palsy, i started to feel a little overwhelmed.  my heart was breaking.  i didn’t want to turn up to a photo session and have it end with me in tears.  i got chatting with the most amazing mother of a beautiful boy with cerebral palsy, she talked me through what to expect… and she recommended i read this essay ‘welcome to holland - by emily perly kingsley’.  i recommend you read it too (below).  the families i met were all so beautiful, and they felt, well, meaningful.  i think when you know real worry and concern, all the worthless worrying goes and life becomes real and significant.  kindness and love is what matters… and these families exude it.  also, if you’re wondering, no, i didn’t cry, if anything i laughed, my heart swelled, i got to experience a depth to family love and commitment that was just so real and so joyous.  it is beautiful in holland and the people are inspiring. x

isn’t she beautiful. x

welcome to holland - by emily perly kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience

to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this . . .

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a wonderful vacation trip to Italy. You get a bunch of guide books and make all your plans. The Colosseum . . . the Michelangelo David . . . the gondolas of Venice. You get a book of handy phrases and learn how to say a few words in Italian. It’s all very exciting”.

“Finally, the time comes for your trip. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says:

“Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!” you say. “Holland? I signed up for Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy!

“I’m sorry,” she says. “There’s been a change and we’ve landed in Holland.”
But I don’t know anything about Holland! I never thought of going to Holland! “I have no idea what you do in Holland!”

What’s important is that they haven’t taken you to a terrible, ugly place, full of famine, pestilence and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you have to go out and buy a whole new set of guide books . . . you have to learn a whole new language . . . and you’ll meet a whole new bunch of people you would never have met otherwise.

Holland. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy . . .

but after you’ve been there for a while, and you’ve had a chance to catch your breath, you look around and begin to discover that Holland has windmills and Holland has tulips - Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy . . . and they’re all bragging about what a great time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I planned.” And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away. And you must accept that pain - because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But . . . if you spend your time mourning the fact that you never got to go to Italy, you may never be available to enjoy the very lovely, very special things about Holland.

“Welcome to Holland!”

by Emily Perly Kingsley

if you would like to know more, or get involved, the cerebral palsy education centre CPEC would love to hear from you.

the true pleasure i get out of my photography sessions is experiencing and capturing the connections between the people within a family.  often when i’m chatting with a mum before a session, she’ll exclaim, ‘oh no, i don’t want to be in any of the shots, it’s about the kids!’.. and my response is.. ‘bad luck, rubber duck.. you’re going to be in them!’.. or something like that anyway.  mostly because, more often than not, it’s us mums that are behind the camera.. so this is your chance to relax and enjoy your kids with no other distractions, a chance to capture the love you share with your family.  mum’s are the sunshine that a family revolves around… it’s so important to capture that….  so this mother’s day, get your camera’s out and snap photos with you and your mum, with you and the kids, use the iphone, use what ever, but capture it.  don’t worry about what you look like, let’s face it, tomorrow you’re only going to be older! snap away, capture those connections… you’ll be glad you did!

wishing you all a wonderful mother’s day x

ok.. in an attempt to get blogging again, i am just going to start with my most recent shoot and work both backwards and forwards from there!!!!  this is baby tom.. he so reminds me of my own baby tom (who is now a school boy) that i was all over this shoot the minute i walked back in the door.  i photographed this family when gorgeous grace was just a little bub and now here she is, a big sister, still trying to work this little guy out.  i adore that fuzzy peach feel of a baby’s skin.  there’s nothing quite as lovely, especially accompanied by that new baby smell.  one can’t help but touch his cheek and breath him in. a beautiful shoot in tom’s gorgeous room. it was so lovely seeing you all again…. x

back in july last year a friend and i treated ourselves to a surf goddess retreat in bali.

to tell you the truth it terrified me!!  surfing? me? i don’t actually like waves!!!! but the rest was too tempting to ignore, and the idea of facing something that scared me so was also very exciting.  it could only make me stronger.  stepping out of our comfort zone is how we grow… so i took a massive leap, and grow i did!

the retreat was full to the brim with surfing, yoga, pampering, fine food, yummy cocktails and shopping!  a whole lot of shopping!  but mostly it was full of wonderful woman.  all on a journey of their own, that we all got to share in.  after our first wave together, a bond was formed.  i snapped some photos of the actual haven we got to call home, it oozed comfort and warmth and relaxation.  i also took a photo of each of the ‘goddesses’ and have made a little slideshow so we can remember.  it doesn’t show us riding the amazing waves, it doesn’t show you the amazing food we shared each day, it doesn’t show you the fun nights we had out ’sampling’ amazing cocktails, it doesn’t show you the amount of shopping that took place… but it should give you an indication of the calm tranquility the retreat provides (and is required after ALL that activity) and the friendship we all shared.  if this doesn’t relax you, i don’t know what will…..

surf goddess retreat slideshow

i met these sweet little birds last winter and we had such a lovely time.

i’ve always believed that photos of child hood and family are so important.  and this week it has been reinforced as my father keeps scanning old photos and emailing them through.  seeing myself so young, in outfits i had long forgotten, with hair styles i have tried hard to forget, has been a blast*.  the ones i love the most though are the ones with my mum or dad.  seeing the connection between us.  knowing what i know now, now that i am a mother… and seeing it in the images of me and my parents, so fabulous.  images with siblings, with parents, with loved ones are so important.  capturing those very special connections between a child and an adoring adult or sibling is so precious.  this image of these little loves, big brother looking after his little sister, will always be treasured… of that i am sure. x

*if you would like to see photos from my childhood, i am posting some on our facebook page ‘little bird‘ and on instagram ‘littlebirdphoto’ and on twitter ‘littlebirdphoto‘… we’d love you to come and say hi! x