I’m aware no one has asked for more detail on who I am (!), but I always like to have an idea of who I’m working with and thought you might, too.

So hello! I’m Emily, and I am a mum, a family photographer and a lover of beer, wine, good food and walking up hills in nice weather. Facebook recently asked me to fill in the ‘About Me’ section on my page over there (shameless plug here) which prompted me to think about expanding on what I had written on my website.

Before I had my son, and for a little while after, I worked in HR and was very comfortable with my situation. Fast forward 2.5 years and I am anything but comfortable, trying to carve out a working life that makes the most sense for all three of us. I’d always thought that whether or not I went back to work as a mum would be entirely up to me (with perhaps a little input from Alex!) but soon realised that this was naive and, well, wrong.

Long story short-ish, it made no financial sense for me to go back to my old job (read: old friends, hot cups of tea, quiet moments, luxurious car journeys, lunch breaks browsing shops…) and so after much soul searching/panicking, here I am! ‘Here’ is me working hard to make a living sharing my passion for photography with local families; teaching myself, a notorious ‘follower’ rather than ‘leader’, how to be my own boss, market myself, manage myself and possibly most importantly, pay myself! All while my son is with me four days a week - a wonderful privilege but he’s not a very good co-worker just yet.

I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll hear of my transition into ‘working mum’ status (sorry), but I’d love to hear more about your own journeys - are you loving it? What have you struggled with? Do you ever feel normal again!? (Side note: what is normal?!)