A self confessed mum-tographer who loves to dress up her girls to take photos regularly, Louise looked back and realized that she was missing from all of her family photos, and so she used her recent shoot with me to not only capture this special time in their lives but also celebrate a whole new relationship she now has with her own mum.

Louise celebrated mother’s day this year with a photoshoot with her mum Jenny and two baby girls. She later told me “I have photos of them at every stage of their lives but I’m not in any of the photos. I just wanted to be in some of the photos with my girls”

So when I told Louise to leave the girls behind for a couple of hours so her and her mum could enjoy the pampering in peace before we invited the girls to join in, I could tell this made her feel a little uncomfortable & guilty.

However she left her anxiety and nerves about leaving her two daughters behind so her and her mother Jenny could spend a few precious hours bonding. The two ladies are enjoying a whole new relationship as Louise has recently moved back to the Coast after living away. She admitted “As a new mum I now understand a lot of things that I didn’t before hand about how hard it is” and says she now has a “whole new respect” for her mum.

Of the actual experience on the day, Louise said, “Being a mum I don’t get to go out a lot, I don’t get to dress up so having a glass of wine and getting your hair and makeup done, it was very special. And having some one there to fix makeup and zhoosh your hair made me know YES I am going to look good in these photos”

It was awesome to see how Louise & Jenny relaxed and really started to enjoy being spoilt, this is where I get so much pleasure, seeing women get into their feel good zone. As Louise said, “You do lose a little sense of yourself as a woman. I felt guilty having photos taken of just myself without the girls. You put your kids first, that’s just what you do, so it was nice to have something just for me”

For me photographs of 3 generations are just precious to capture so when the little ones arrived to join in, I got so excited. They were dressed in the cutest little outfits and we got to capture some really beautiful portraits, that I know they will all look back on and treasure.

As Louise told me she was “blown away by the photos of herself and the 4 of them together”. When I asked her to bring along a few of her favourites to be interviewed, she told me she would have to tear them all off the walls as they are all over her house. Needless to say I told her to leave them right where they are. To know that I have taken a photo of woman that she will be proud to hang on the wall in her home, that makes my heart smile.

On this video we chat about relationships with mums after babies, retime for mummies, champagne dresses & makeovers (of course!)

And here are some of my favs from our photo shoot that day…