25/03/2025
I can't stop thinking about an interaction I had in the park.
It'd been a packed weekend & I'd NEARLY managed to get C back to the car, when I saw a Mum and her 3 teenage children on this tiny patch of grass by the road.
She was desperately trying to get a photo of them with the daffodils. I knew the kids were a bit 'done now' ,Β but I could still hear her valiantly trying to get a quick shot.
It was only a few seconds and they were about to walk off.Β
I realised she would have nothing to show (or for them to see) that SHE HAD BEEN THERE TOO.Β
I quickly asked if she'd like to be in a photo with them, and she had that panicked, 'oh god...I HATE being in photos' look in her eyes.
I turned and looked at my 3 year old daughter watching this exchange, then turned back and said quietly to the mother... It's important you know? Sometimes YOU need to be in the photos with them too.Β
She suddenly relaxed and I realised that, incredibly, I'd just given her permission to appear in a photo alongside her own children. Wow.
I took it quickly (not my best sadly, but at least it exists!) and off they went.
And I continued to stand there and wonder... why do parents (often and especially mothers) struggle sooo much to be in the photo?Β
I don't have (and won't ever have) any photos of my daughter with my Mum, but I'm going to make damn sure I'm in some of them with her.Β
Even if it's a selfie on a phone and I've got bags under my eyes and unwashed hair (which were all true this weekend π).Β
Because I deserve (and my daughter deserves) to see me there with her too.Β As I am today, in all it's unfiltered realness, and not just as a dream for a future 'picture perfect' moment, that may never arrive.Β
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Did you take the photo? Were you in the photo?
If any of this has resonated with you, please see this as YOUR permission slip to be IN that next photo with your loved ones too.
p.s. If you want to learn how to get your old film camera out from the back of the cupboard, & finally start capturing beautiful, imperfect and MEANINGFUL photos again, the 'Shoot & Process Workshop' might be perfect. Click the Workshop π in bio