Joyful Mother and Baby Portrait – Just One

It’s a smile to melt your heart and I’m so thrilled to be sharing this mother and baby portrait of Emma and Alexander on the blog today.

When I first started photographing families I thought I would do much of my work in the siting room, a formal space with sofas to sit on. Working with children though I seem to do more and more work in the kitchen, particularly now that wonderful open plan kitchen/dinners are so popular. Even better when, as in this picture, they have glass doors onto the garden providing spectacular light.

This is one of those natural moments where all the compositional elements come together to elevate a picture to a new height. Alexander laughing in his mum’s arms with mother and son looking so incredibly happy makes this image a joy to look at.

If you look closer though you will see compositional elements which, taken together, make this a very strong image. It’s a picture all about triangles with the very strong V shape from Alexander down to the edge of the frame and then up to Emma repeated in his cowboy style triangular bib and the V-neck of Emma’s top. Each repetition makes the image stronger.

The lighting is perfect, soft but directional and illuminating Alexander’s face as he smiles at the camera. We were close to the window and so the background has faded into subtle shades of grey making the subject stand out even more.

It’s the smiles that are the best though – laughing together, mirrored one to the other as mother and baby share this bond of love.

I hope you like it, today’s just one, this joyful mother and baby portrait.