The story behind the photo | A photography newsletter
The struggles of a documentary family photographer
Edition 6 - 30 November 2023
I recently did a 2-hour session with a lovely family in West Dulwich, South-East London. We started off at their home, then continued at the local park.
Just before heading home the kids had a snack. There was this lovely moment when Mum started feeding Little Boy Hula Hoops from her finger, so I snapped snapped snapped, until I got this shot. Big Boy was running around and it just so happened that when I shot this photo, from the way I was positioned, his body ended up right in between them.
Now. Being able to capture authentic moments is at the heart of documentary family photography and - frankly - it’s really REALLY hard. One of my biggest worries when doing documentary family photoshoots is missing moments. Moments cannot be created, staged or repeated at whim. They happen and then they’re gone. Also, capturing the moment isn’t enough, the photo has to appear and be composed in a way that the moment is enhanced, elevated and clear for the viewer.
In this case, the MOMENT was Mum feeding Little Boy a single Hula Hoop from her finger. That’s it. From a compositional perspective, the photo just didn’t work with Big Boy framed in between that moment. Regretfully, I had to discard it from the final gallery.
There was another option though: ‘photoshopping’ Big Boy out of the picture. It’s a pretty straightforward process, and my client would never have known. I have to be honest: I thought about it, and even debated it with a photographer friend.
However, the documentary photography principles aren’t just about unposed and un-staged photoshoots. This commitment to authenticity persists during the post-processing stage, where the focus is on enhancing photos from a storytelling perspective (e.g., through cropping) and ensuring they maintain a realistic appearance (e.g., natural colors). Erasing, cloning, and patching things up compromise the authenticity of the shot.
So, I let this photo go. I’m sharing it here to show the commitment that we documentary family photographers make to the genre. Even when it means giving up a photo we visualised and tried hard to get, but simply didn’t work out. We don’t compromise on the documentary ethos by making tweaks, even if no one will ever find out.
I am a documentary family photographer based in Dulwich, primarily serving East Dulwich, Herne Hill, and Peckham, and I am available to travel across London and beyond. Get in touch if you are interest in booking a session with me.