The Diamond Family

This photo session had been over 18 months in the making - from initial thought and enquiry to now. Jamie, wife to Jeremy, and mother to Harper (10), Paetyn (8), and Xander (5), originally booked 12 months ago but unfortunately the sessions had to be cancelled due to eldest son Harper having broken his arm. As we all know too well ourselves, life got far too busy for The Diamonds and so another 12 months went by… and then… isolation hit all of Australia. All families were asked to stay safe at home… and by doing so, it got a lot of people thinking. Thinking about life, and how fast paced we have all been going at it, and not giving ourselves any moment to catch a breath and to slow down… well here it was - like a big slap in the face… here was our chance to slow down, catch that breath, be with our families and bond like we’ve never bonded before.

Isolation gave a lot of people time to reflect. Reflect on what matters to them most…. family. It gave families time to get to know their children again - some probably a little too much time as they were given the hardest task of ‘homeschooling’ their children as well as trying to do their own job from home as well. C-19 gave families a chance to put the brakes on and just concentrate on them. Not seeing friends and having social gatherings every weekend like they normally would, not going out for those after work drinks, and not going off to play sport that two or three times a week after work… but just to be in the presence of each other. Don’t get me wrong, all those things I’ve mentioned are ridiculously healthy for any family. You must have time away for yourself for ‘self care’ as they say… playing sport, going to the gym or yoga/pilates class etc - these are hugely important as an outlet for anyone and for your mental health in general. But sometimes it’s good to have a break… to break up that routine… and come back to what matters the most and spend that quality time with your family again. I truly believe there were more good things that came out of Covid19 in Australia than bad - if you were to compare our statistics to those of many many other countries. We are the lucky ones.

For the Diamonds, being together made them realise that it had been a particularly long time since they’d had a family portrait taken together... and like many others families, that last time was probably when they were married or immediately after their first or last child was born. For Jeremy and Jamie, their children had grown right before their very eyes… like many families I know - it was like they’d blinked and time had simply gone by… their youngest was not far off five years of age… so for them, now was the perfect time to capture their children - have time stand still forever. From the words of Andy Warhol “The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in them do.” So now, as isolation restrictions started to lift, this was now the perfect time to get those much wanted photos taken.

It’s impossible to go back in time and reproduce photos of your children that you so wish you had. Make your family a priority this year. Cement this age of your own beautiful creations in photographs and display them proudly on your walls! Family photographs hung proudly on the wall are undoubtedly what makes a house a home.