Five years of theUNTOLDphoto: growing alongside the families I photograph
Five years, and a month I didn’t plan to mark
theUNTOLDphoto began in October 2021, which means this month marks five years of my little business. I hadn't planned to make anything of it. Anniversaries have a habit of creeping up when you're busy, and this one has arrived in the same autumn as my 40th birthday, which has made it a little harder to let pass without saying something.
So this blog is a bit different; it's a thank you, a reflection, and an honest look at where I am, five years into a business built around other people's most tender seasons.
What four hundred families look like from the inside
In five years I've photographed more than four hundred families across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. Written down, that number looks so small for everything it holds. Each of those families opened their front door to me, or met me in a field or a woodland, during a stretch of life that was so special to them.
Some I met with a bump, some with a newborn only weeks old, and some with a houseful of children who had very little interest in sitting still. There have been mamas who saw themselves in photographs for the first time in years and cried in a way they hadn't expected to. There have been partners who arrived convinced they hated having their picture taken and left having forgotten the camera was there at all.
None of that fits inside a number, and it's what I find myself thinking about when I look back over these five years.
Growing up alongside you
One of the highlights I didn't see coming is what happens when you stay in one place long enough to watch families change. Bumps I photographed have become babies, and those babies have become toddlers who now run at me when I arrive, completely unbothered that I'm holding a camera. I had no idea, at the start, how much it would mean to be part of a family's story across more than one chapter.
For some families that has meant a maternity session, then a newborn session a few weeks later, and the promise of more to come. Mel and Rick are one of those families, and by Mel's own admission, neither of them feels especially natural when it comes to posing for photos.
"Alex was fabulous from start to finish and over both of our shoots, she was so very patient, caring and friendly with such attention to detail. My partner and I are not the most natural when it comes to posing for photos but Alex worked her magic to put us both at ease, making it an enjoyable and unforgettable experience."
They weren't the only ones in front of the camera. Juke, their gorgeous pup, came along to both sessions with every intention of being the star of the show, and as Mel says herself, he mostly was. He spent a good part of each session wanting to play, and in return he got plenty of fuss from me, which felt like a fair trade.
"The end result .. our photos are amazing we love them so much, it's hard to choose what to put on the walls! Alex's style is so natural and she really is able to capture all the love in the air ❤️. We are so glad that we chose Alex to capture our most precious journey yet and we look forward to using her services in the future for our growing family photos. We would recommend in a heartbeat.” — MATERNITY & NEWBORN SESSIONS ~ MEL, RICK, BABY EVELYN & JUKE
What stays with me most is that mention of their growing family. Two sessions in, with Evelyn now here and Juke still firmly at the centre of things, they're already looking ahead to the next chapter, and that's what being someone's family photographer has come to mean to me over these five years.
“Do you have children yourself?”
At some point in almost every first session, someone asks whether I have children of my own. It's always asked warmly, out of curiosity rather than anything else, and my answer is always the same. Not yet.
It's absolutely a fair question. My whole business is built around moments I haven't had myself: the last heavy weeks of a pregnancy, the blur of the newborn days, the chaos of a toddler who has decided today is not a day for sitting still. I understand why people wonder how I can photograph something so personal without having lived it.
The view from just outside the frame
I'm forty, I'm single and I don't have children, and I'm saying that out loud here because I think it's worth saying. So much of what we see suggests life should arrive in a neat order by a certain age, and mine hasn't. I'm not going to dress that up as something it isn't, and I'm not going to pretend it's a closed chapter either. It's simply the honest truth of where I am, five years into work I love.
What I've come to believe is that being on the outside of these moments has made me better at seeing them.
I'm not in the picture, which is exactly why I can see it so clearly.
Standing just beyond a family's moment means I notice what they're too close to see. The way a dad looks at his baby when nobody (but me) is watching. The hand that touches the bump halfway through a conversation. The older sibling checking the new baby is still there. These are the untold moments I set out to photograph five years ago, and I've never once taken for granted that I'm the one allowed to witness them.
Here’s to the next chapter, whatever it holds…
To every family who has trusted me over these five years, whether that was once or every year since, thank you. You've built this little business every bit as much as I have, and I carry pieces of your stories with me far longer than you probably realise.
I don't know what the next five years hold for me personally, and none of us really does. What I do know is that I'll keep showing up for the families who invite me in, wherever they are in their own story, whether that's a first bump, a brand new baby, or a family coming back to see how much everyone has grown since I last joined them.
About Alex
Alex is the photographer behind theUNTOLDphoto, a natural maternity, newborn and family photographer based in Worcester. She photographs in-home and outdoor sessions across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and beyond, capturing the real, untold moments of family life.
If you’d like me to be part of your family’s next chapter,
I’d love to hear from you.