I photograph families in two styles, documentary and lifestyle. They have their similarities and differences. Depending on the session or the photo, it’s difficult to tell if it is one or the other sometimes. Other times it gets very clear. I had 12 photos award winning in the Lifestyle Family Photography contest last month. This month, I had another surprise: I had 5 photos awarded in an international contest run by FPJA – Family Photojournalism Association, an association that awards documentary family photographers. It was the sixth round of the contest, but it was the first one I participated.
I always photograph with a focus on people, how much those pictures will be meaningful to them, especially 10, 20, 30 years from now. And yet, most of the time, I want the pictures to be important to those children when they become adults. But recognition by an international association gives me extra excitement. It means that those photographs are valuable not only to those who know the families or the people in the photos. But they also convey something that anyone can perceive, and that is very powerful.
For those who don’t know, documentary photography is the one that records the family’s daily life, without the photographer’s interference. This kind of photography ends up resulting in truer shots, as it captures the moments as they happen. Having the routines registered, the family house, the reaction of the children every time something happens, all that will have an inestimable value in the future. Think about how you would value it today if you had this kind of record from your own childhood. Anyone who wants to know more about this style and the differences between them can access the family photography page.
Below are the 5 awarded photos and a brief explanation of each of them. Hope you like it! 🙂
This photo is from Vitor’s birth in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and it was awarded in the birth category. I think it’s self-explanatory: the exact moment of birth when the baby is still in the hands of the doctor, and the parents are seeing their baby for the first time.
This photograph was also from Vitor’s birth in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, it was also awarded in the birth category and received a blue seal (chosen by three judges). it’s the first photo in which the family is together, right after the birth of Vitor. It was not planned, it was a moment that was really happening: father and mother kissing their son, showing all the love they have for him.
This photo is from Theo’s newborn photography session when Theo was about 15 days old. I find it interesting that it shows the parent and child interaction even only showing the father’s arms. It shows the attentive gaze of the son to the father. It also demonstrates the care of the father with the child.
I really like this photo. And apparently, the judges also liked it because it was selected by three of the four of them (blue seal).
It was taken during a documentary ‘day in the life’ session. The most important detail of the picture is the action of the child while brushing the teeth and checking in the bathroom mirror if his teeth are clean. He is almost a mirror of John Lennon’s picture on the wall. The two are open-mouthed, one with a microphone and the other with the toothbrush and even their hands are in similar positions.
Besides, the time to brush your teeth is something very peculiar to Jeremias. Because his godmother is a dentist, he cares a lot about brushing his teeth, stays a long time doing that every day and checks several times if they are clean. His raised foot to see in the mirror and the details of their house still give a plus in the image.
Another photo from another documentary session I did with this family. This time in a family fun moment. Everyone in Jeremias’s bedroom, Anita playing of hitting Jeremias while they are all laughing a lot. There is no way to look at this picture and not notice the fun they are having, right?
My special thanks to these beautiful families who opened their homes and their lives and trusted my work and my eyes. Half of this prize is yours too, a photographer is nothing alone. ❤ Thank you Mimi, Leo, Gabi, Nando, Leycianne and Rogerio.
And how about you? Do you like any particular photo? Does any of them make you feel anything special?
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