Documenting childhood | Artefact Motherhood
I can still remember running my hands over our family photo albums; turning the pages made up of rigid plastic pockets and tucked into them were the prints my mum and dad had so carefully placed. It must have been the late 1970s when my dad got his first camera, most probably after saving up enough from his first job. There are photos of my parents when they were in the early days of going out together. This was in Hong Kong and before I was born.
When I arrived, the number of pictures that he took began to exponentially build up and so did those photo albums. One of my earliest memories of being in front of the camera was taken just before we were about to emigrate to England. There’s even a whole album of that period with photographs of aunts and uncles, cousins, and my beloved grandparents too.
A Family Historian
Having a dad who was a keen hobbyist photographer invariably rubbed off on me, but more valuably it gave me a purpose that I understood little at the time and that is the importance of being a family historian and the richness it brings through these visual records of daily family life. Although I have not been back in Hong Kong for six years, something that I hope will be rectified very soon when it is safe to travel again, the pictures presently and also in the past, serve as reminders of people and places that I deeply miss and feel connected to even if it is only through the photographs.
Documenting our everyday life (and for clients too) only cements the value of making photos that may not be fully appreciated by both of you, my young sons, now. Indeed, your interests currently lie in playing sports, seeing your friends, climbing trees, and, as much as I could give you a childhood unplugged, your love of Xbox does not look like it is waning either any time soon.
One day, I hope you will understand why I make these photos; to keep in mind the memories of the experiences we made together and hope they come alive for you in seeing those relationships you have with your family, your favourite pastimes, your friends, the home you grew up in and the places you have been.
It is all part of your childhood, your life, your memories. Documented with love x
