As we start a new year I wanted to look back at the year past at my highlights as a Abergavenny photographer. I’m so thankful for all the families who have trusted me to help them celebrate their year, with their pregnancy, newborn and family portraits. I’ve had the pleasure of working with lots of other small businesses, creating imagery for them to help reach their business goals. And I’ve even had the honour of documenting the wedding of two absolutely wonderful people! So without further ado, let’s take a look at 2021…
At the beginning of the pandemic I was the first Abergavenny photographer to create socially distanced photoshoots. This meant I was able to help document the first days of those tiny babies born in the thick of the lockdowns. I carefully followed all of the government guidelines so I could ensure the safety of everybody involved as I photographed families in their gardens. It was amazing to meet the incredible women who birthed their children in a world they could not have imagined before. It was so wonderful to help celebrate these women through this incredible time.
Early on in 2021 I found myself being contacted by a stranger on the internet who took great offence to the services I was offering. With no understanding of what my work is or in fact all the precautions being taken, this person told me they would be reporting me to the police for working during lockdown. I chose to get in touch with the police myself to clarify my position because I think we can all agree that lockdown rules/covid guidelines have always been hazy at best. So after a talking to a lovely woman at trading standards who, herself was unsure if I was or was not breaking any rules by working in the way I was, I had to stop creating portraits.
This was heartbreaking not only for me but for the women who had asked me to photograph one of the most monumental times in their lives. Maternity sessions where cancelled and newborn sessions postponed.
Not how this Abergavenny photographer had envisioned the start to her year.
But lockdown was lifted and I was finally able to celebrate the pregnancies and babies born this year! You might notice that some of these ‘newborn’ photos include babies who are maybe a little older than you’d expect. These are the babies whose photoshoots had to be postponed but thanks to how I shoot these children didn’t need to be brand new sleepy babes for me to create intimate and loved portraits.
One of my favourite things about being a newborn Abergavenny photographer is when families invite me back year after year to celebrate their growing babes. This year did not disappoint on that front! I was invited to so many of my past clients home to celebrate birthdays of their little ones!
Speaking of family photography…this year saw the return (AT LAST) to the mini sessions! The first event was a Motherhood mini session to celebrate those Mums and their littles with intimate, relaxed and fun portraits in Linda Vista Gardens. Now as an Abergavenny photographer who shoots a LOT of her work outdoors I’m used to working in slightly adverse weather conditions usually grey clouds and quick showers. But for this mini session event we were facing the HOTTEST day EVER. We sheltered in the shade of a willow tree and tried our best not to melt!
And of course we rounded the year out with our extra special Christmas mini sessions which took place in the beautiful loft setting of Little Green Refills.
2021 also saw me pour a lot of energy back into my portrait series ‘Mother Nurture’. A project I began many years ago to celebrate breastfeeding Mothers and share their stories. Honestly this needs an entire blog of it’s own and there’s no way I can the images from every single Mother here so here’s just a few highlights of these brilliant women.
Now I don’t usually do weddings but there’s no way I would say no to Lisa! I’m genuinely so thrilled that she asked me to document this special day it was wonderful to witness the love and friendship Lisa and Paul shared and see everyone coming together to celebrate them! Of course there are over 700 photos from the day itself so I thought I would just share a handful with you now…
Safe to say that as an Abergavenny photographer 2021 was one HELL of a year! Thank you to everyone who helped me throughout, to those who trusted me to document their stories and here’s to making 2022 an even more amazing year!
Please take a look through the blog to see all of the sessions from 2021 https://www.sarahhailephoto.com/baby-photography-south-wales
If you’d like to talk to me about your own photography session please get in touch with any of your questions, https://www.sarahhailephoto.com/contact
And to see everything that goes on behind the scenes with this Abergavenny photographer come find me on Instagram https://instagram.com/sarahhailephoto