As a passionate documentary photographer, one of my goals for 2013 was to photograph a birth. I had the exciting opportunity to do so when Isabel requested my presence at the birth of her first daughter. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t to be – Rosalind was unexpectedly born in the early morning after a very surprising three hour labour.
So my first glimpse of this new baby and her wonderful parents was a few hours later, when visiting hours began, during which I took these intimate images of Rosalind’s first day of life. It was a moving experience, actually – observing her parents’ tender, tentative first steps in to parenthood, capturing the combination of love and fear in her father’s eyes, finding that aura of wonder that surrounds brand new babies. She will never be this small again, she was still folded and creased; she had not even been washed yet.
A beautiful day, and one that will live quietly in the pages of Isabel and Jeremiah’s photo albums forever. That’s what documentary photography does – it captures this tiny moments, freezes them in time, so that even the smallest details can remain alive and transport you back to these important days of your life. This is why I love it so very, very much.
Rosie. Beautiful little Rosie.
That picture of Rosie on the day she was born with her face all scrunched up still makes my heart beat a little faster
Even a year later it still makes mine flutter, too!