19th August 2020 – It’s World Photography Day and I thought what a better day for sharing a little bit about my journey into motherhood photography.
I specialise in Maternity and Newborn Photography so motherhood photography embraces them all.
I always loved taking and looking at photographs. When I was little, my dad enjoyed photography, he had quite a good camera and he took slide films. Then it was an experience sitting down and projecting the photos on a big screen. A lot of the very old photos are actually still in slides and then we have lots of shoeboxes with prints and albums.
That’s the part I like when I go to visit my parents in Italy: I like going through some old memories.
I fast forward a bit otherwise I get boring . . .
In 2005 I went to Africa, Malawi to be precise, one of the poorest countries in the world and lived a few weeks in a mission.
That was an 𝙚𝙮𝙚-𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 and I documented that journey through a diary and photography. I was excited to wake up early every morning and meet people, playing with children and helping somehow. I was going to bed with a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction, yet some sadness was always in my soul as I couldn’t help but think about those poor children.
Photography had the ability to capture the place and the experience I was living and that moment in my life.
For this reason, it’s said that 𝙖 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨.
Photographs can convey a feeling faster, and sometimes even more effectively than words can. A photograph can make the viewer see the world the way the photographer sees it.
The children were getting crazy for the photos.
They would ask me to take photos of them and they used to laugh so loud when I showed them the back of the camera. The children were surprised of course of seeing themselves, it was something new for them but then they commented and looked at each other and laughed again. They were definitely seeing their friends with different eyes. It was really a blast for all of us!
I loved capturing that happiness in children,
It made me happy too. Yes, that’s me when I hold a camera!
And then I was drawn to the mothers.
African mothers are very hard workers and they are always carrying their baby with them with a smile on their face. They used to love looking at their photos as well.
I was 24 at the time and I fell in love with motherhood photography not knowing yet that some years later that would become my job. My dream job!
And this job makes me happy!
These photos are quite old and they were taken with my compact digital camera, so the quality unfortunately is not the best. But to me they are still quite precious as they remind me of the great experience I had and the mark the beginning of my photography journey.
If you want to see my recent work head to my website or my Instagram page.
