It's taken a little while but I'm so pleased to finally put together some images from this photo shoot where I met with my most favourite teacher for the first time in well over 30 years. We met her wonderful family on a cool autumn morning in the woods, while my children and her grandchildren played and foraged in the forest. It was so good to catchup with this special teacher from my childhood that I was very lucky to have. She has the rare ability to make everyone in her class feel special and valued. For me the year spent in her class was a refuge from what was a dreary, dull and mostly unhappy school career. It is no surprise that she has kept in contact with so many of her past students. Meeting her now as a mother I am amazed at how she appeared to effortlessly raise 3 boys and teach us all at the same time. It's funny how your perspective on life changes through your experience of it.
My children came along that morning. As one of her grandchildren is very camera shy, the plan was to distract them and it worked. They didn't bat an eyelid at the crazy lady with the big camera. I was secretly very proud of my daughter, as she played with the two younger children. Almost without asking she knew where the best patches of light were and directed their games towards them. It was a wonderful feeling to have my firstborn with me on a shoot as a secret ally. I couldn't help but feel immensely proud of my little photographer’s daughter. I should bring her along to my shoots more often. The only difficulty came later when I needed to edit my two children out of the family portraits!
I am part of a photographers blog circle which keeps me inspired and motivated to post at least once a month. When you have finished here be sure to have a look at the amazing contribution by Anna-Liisa Nixon, South Florida Documentary Family Photographer. http://annaliisanixon.com/blog/february-local-outings-blog-circle-hollywood-beach-fl/
