At the end of 2018 I got some rather thrilling news. I’d been placed in the top 25 documentary family photographers in the world! To be exact I was number 24 but who’s counting? And I’d been placed 3rd in the UK which was pretty incredible too!
The Family Photojournalist Association
The award was from the Family Photojournalist Association, who run worldwide photo contests throughout the year. To date I’ve been lucky enough to have had fourteen of my images win awards. You can take a look at their website here www.fpja.com
So what exactly is a family photojournalist you might ask. The brief definition, I think, is a photographer who photographs a family on location naturally. So rather than taking photos with everyone saying cheese at the camera they capture the family’s day to day life. Rather than the family photography session taking place in a studio it will be in the family home instead. Or the family might go to their favourite local park and the photographer will document the fun they have there. It could be photographing a children’s birthday party or a family outing to London.
Letting the family act naturally will create natural family photographs
If you let the family act naturally the resulting images will be completely authentic. Over the years the images will be a reminder of how life really was. Documentary family photographs show you what children are like rather than what they look like.
As this is my favourite way to photograph families I’m honoured that so many of my images have won awards. Thank you to the Family Photojournalist Association for an amazing end to 2018!
If you’d like your family life documented in a natural, real way please do get in touch on hello@alexakidd-may.com or 07813 816335. I’d love to help tell your family story.