One shoot for Unseen Community will be of Zea and her baby. She is a single mum by choice, she was advised to do so by her doctors and I feel she is very brave to take this step. I checked in with her this morning as her due date was 21st June so she is overdue - but babies come when they are ready don’t they? Unseen Communities is a year long photography project and I am to explore the narratives around same sex parents and more diverse families. Matt had originally asked me to photograph, the moment the baby is handed to the mother and we want that vulnerable, raw celebration of birth. There are several issues around this though, Zea is a high risk pregnancy and she may not feel comfortable having me with her whilst she is in labour. It’s tricky because if I wait days to photograph her the work may be more cliched and pleasant with set safe poses. Obviously Zea and her baby are more important than a photo shoot. I have to be patient and shoot when she is ready. 

Matt sent me a link this morning from an article of a  birth of a baby with both Dads present and helping. Now I understand why the birth is an important story for some gay men. They may long to witness and to help and to hold the baby and cut the cord. To be there for their child from the first moment. This is a large part of my job - to listen to the stories of others and find my way to document them. As a photographer I need to practise empathy and see a story from the perspective of another.