A Decade with
Shashank & Deepti

Some relationships don't begin with a brief.

They begin with a moment — a look across a crowded room, a laugh that nobody planned for, a quiet afternoon that somehow became the photograph you keep coming back to years later.

I first met Shashank and Deepti at their wedding. That was the beginning.

I didn't know then that I'd still be photographing them a decade later. That I'd watch their daughter grow from a newborn into the girl she is now — full of personality, quietly hilarious in front of a camera, completely at home in every session we've ever done together. That we'd share milestones across years, and also the ordinary Sundays that somehow end up being the most meaningful to look back on.

Some bonds quietly grow with you through milestones, laughter, and quiet pauses. This is one of those bonds.

Every family photograph begins somewhere. Theirs began at a wedding — two people choosing each other, surrounded by everyone they loved.

I captured the ceremony, the rituals, the small private moments between the big public ones. The kind of images that live quietly in an album for years, and then one day stop you completely when you open it again.

That's where we started.

Then came their firstborn.

I was there for the newborn session — those early days when a family is still adjusting to the person who has arrived, finding their new shape. Then the first birthday. The cake. The complete chaos. The parents watching and laughing and trying to keep up with how fast everything is moving.

That session reminded me of exactly why I do this work. The way a child exists in a room is something you simply cannot manufacture. You just have to be patient enough to catch it when it happens.

She's been a consistent presence in every session since. And somehow she's only gotten more herself with each one — more comfortable, more alive in front of the camera, more completely her.

The most recent session was at their home. And home sessions are different from anything else.

There's no venue, no backdrop, no brief. Just the family as they actually are — the light that comes through their own windows, the furniture they chose, the corners of a life built together. A daughter dancing in the middle of the room. A mum and daughter reading side by side on the floor. A family sitting quietly, completely at ease in their own space.

This is what a decade of trust looks like in photographs. Not posed. Not performed. Just real.

I'll let Deepti say it better than I can.

And now there's a second baby on the way.

We've already done the maternity session — the bump, the family of three becoming four, the daughter who is going to be the best big sister. The grandparents were there too. Some things deserve to be remembered with everyone in the room.

Soon we'll photograph the first birthday, the tiny hands, the first year passing in what feels like a week.

And somewhere in between, we'll capture the ordinary moments that families forget to preserve — until they look back years later and realise those were the ones that mattered most.

A decade in. More to come.

When you document a family over years, something shifts.

In the early sessions, there's always a moment of adjustment. Adults aware of the camera. Children unsure. Everyone trying to settle into something that feels natural. It takes time — and trust — for that to change.

By the third or fourth session, that adjustment barely exists. The family knows how this works. The children know there's no pressure. The parents have stopped wondering how to hold themselves. And that's when the real photographs start happening.

With Shashank and Deepti, we reached that point years ago. The sessions now feel less like photography and more like spending an afternoon with a family I know well. I notice things I might miss with a new client. A decade of sessions doesn't just create more photographs. It creates a record — the before and after, the family you were and the family you've become.

Every session is baby-led and child-led. That's not a tagline — it's how I actually work.

If a child needs five minutes to warm up, we take five minutes. If a baby needs feeding in the middle of everything, we stop completely. There is no clock running. No shot list that has to be completed.

I use natural light almost exclusively — it's gentler, more flattering, and completely safe around babies. Sessions happen at home because home is where families are most themselves. Real moments take longer than posed ones. That's always been worth it.