Every day when I walk into my studio the first thing I look at is, well at the moment it’s my heater as I put it on high because it is soooo cold right now! Then I put down my coffee, sit down at my desk while I turn on my computers and then I look up at the photos on the wall of my babies. Yes, I know they aren’t ACTUALLY babies any more (almost 10 & 13!!) but as I’m sure all parents can relate to - they will always be my little babies.

Looking at these photos always makes my heart feel closer to them and it reminds me of why I do this job. One of the photos on my studio wall is of my daughter Lili with our little tan & white Papillon dog Eddie sitting together in the clover on a winters day. We brought Eddie home when I was pregnant with Lili as company for our older Doberman Brandy, who was used to being the center of attention. Her world was about to change and we wanted to give her a friend to hopefully keep her company through it all. Our little Eddie Munster was quite the character as a tail chasing grumpy old man! About a month after this photo was taken he died from a sudden (or unknown) heart problem. We were all heart broken. So many tears were shed by all of us for his abrupt departure from our family. Eventually we would think of him less and less. Even our Alexandrine parrot Popcorn stopped mimicking his little whines and barking. But what always draws us back is the photos of that day with him at one of his favourite places to explore with his family. I had a photo printed of each of our kids with him for their bedrooms, however Lili found it too emotional and wasn’t ready to see it every day so I lovingly added it to my wall collection in the studio. And I’m so glad that I did. Every day that I look at it I’m reminded of how much I adored his little brown eyes. How he loved when I stroked him with my thumb at the top of his little snout. How he would pick fights with our more recent adopted pooch Laya, who was 3-4 times his size with much bigger teeth! (Luckily she would just pin him down with her paws till we grabbed him by the fluff!) How he would run like a mad dog around the backyard after a bath and then give me just 30 mins to brush him and trim any mats in his fur before he would decide ‘nope! That’s enough thank you!’. Isn’t it funny how they leave such a big mark on your heart.

So, why do I print my photos? For these warm and fuzzy memories that I get to relive every time I look at them. I totally believe in digital back ups (love my very best favourite photos as lock screens on my phone etc!) but I have sooooo many photos of my own on my computer that get forgotten.

I want to LIVE WITH and LOVE my photos and those moments that mean the most to me - everyday. By printing them I get the privilege of doing just that.

I’ve been trying to talk the kids into doing photos with Laya, just like the shoot with Eddie, but they are very reluctant. Do you think they might be worried it could jinx something?