Partway through eating my lunchtime salad in the restaurant at Mottisfont, I noticed a serenely beautiful mum come in with a small girl and a baby in a sling. She came to the table adjacent to mine and checked it was free before she sat down with her children.
I felt this little family would make a lovely portrait, although I have learnt that it is easier to achieve a good solo portrait than a portrait of of three people. The baby now had been taken out of the sling and was sucking his thumb so I guessed he would carry on with that. I would also never ask anyone for a portrait if they were eating but Belinda was just drinking a coffee. But the restaurant was quite crowded. All these ifs and buts going through my mind!
Ready to go, I picked up my camera from the low shelf where I had put it for safety and laid it on the table. "I also have that camera," said the mum. And then we shared our views of the brilliance of the a6000 and from that came my request for a family portrait and my explanation of my strangers/human family project and her ready agreement.
Meet Belinda, from Australia, with Jemima, who told me she is 3 years old when I asked, and Toby, just turned 3 months the previous day. I took quite a lot of photos, even putting the camera on burst but, as often happens, it was the first shots which were the most successful.
It was the family's first visit to Mottisfont and I recommended the walled garden with its colourful spring flowers as a must to visit. Belinda met her husband, who is French, in Australia and he is currently working in England as an actuary with an insurance company. Jemima was born in Paris. I asked her if she could speak French and she was a little bit too shy to answer. I guess she has already made a start.
Belinda is on maternity leave from her job which involves supporting street sex workers and looking after their welfare.
Suddenly, time to part after such an unexpected and welcome meeting and I gave my card to Belinda; we thanked each other for our encounter, and went our separate ways.
this little family:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150442566@N07/47733884882/in/photostream/
