A Lower Hutt photographer has not only beautifully captured a newborn baby with respectful and elegant acknowledgement of his angel sibling, but has also won international recognition for her stunning portrait photography.
A twin and his sibling
Sarah Simmons from Charlie Horse Photography was chosen by Cherie Ayrton to photograph her twins after birth but when Johnny died five months into the pregnancy the scheduled session called for some compassionate artistry.
Sarah came up with the idea to wrap Cherie’s newborn, Tiger, in a cloth and connect it with Johnny’s ashes, symbolising an umbilical cord and the twins’ connection.
Award-winning imagery
Sarah entered the photo along with others from her portfolio into the 2018 Portrait Masters, an international photography competition culminating in an award ceremony in the USA. The photo of Tiger not only won the newborn category but was also chosen as the overall winner from over 7,000 entries, The judge described the photo as “a beautiful celebration of life.”
See the category winners in the video below.
“As a parent myself I understand how life changing it is to bring a child into the world and I also understand how fast they grow! I love to create natural images of children that truly reflect their personalities.” Sarah Simmons from Charlie Horse Photography.
This article was written by Julie Scanlon, Editor for Kidspot NZ.
Read more on Kidspot:
A beautiful way to always remember one that is no longer here with us. This takes a special photographer to be able to capture images like these.
This is just beautiful and it got me a little teary eyed. I love how we create beautiful photos like this and it is just done so well. The parents would appreciate looking back into this moment in life and see it as something beautiful.
This picture is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful! What a wonderful way the celebrate and remember the baby’s short life and the fact that the surviving baby is a twin.
Wow, such a bittersweet photo. It so beautifully conveys the family’s journey, and you can feel the respect for the twins in the image. I have so much respect for those people working to help families through the death of a child. Whether it’s photographers like this, or those who do Angel Casts or Huggable Hearts. Such important work.
What an absolutely beautiful way to represent the twins and their family. a very well deserved award for an exceptional piece of art that is treasured by the family. Tiger will look back on this photo in the years to come with immense love and pride how awesome ..this totally warmed my heart seeing this photo and reading the article and background to it
Awesome 🙂 My niece lost her wee babe at 37 weeks late last year – she had heart issues. Was such a sad and difficult time for her family and our extended family. We visited wee Scarlett and there were photos taken etc which I think helped with the grieving process.
Wow, what an amazing and respectful way to celebrate both a newborn and an angel baby. Made me tear up a little as well as I am pregnant myself and I cannot even begin to imagine how it feels to lose a baby.
What a beautiful story, so sad but so special. How brave of the mother to go ahead and do this and how tactful and special of the photographer, something she will cherish forever.
Omg this is so heart warming. How heartbreaking now so well done how this photographer has also included the lost child into the photo shoot. This is so very creative.
I saw this photo on Facebook and it is a lovely photo to remember the wee baby who passed away while still in Mums tummy. It would be heartbreaking for this to happen but she has created a great picture so the baby will never be forgotten.