Two Years of My Business: The Story Behind It
This year my business turns two.
Two years of doing something I love more than anything. Two years of meeting incredible people, capturing memories for families, and building something that truly feels like mine.
But the story behind this business started long before 2024.
It started with a girl who never quite felt like she fit in.
Becoming a Mum at 18
I became a mum 11 years ago, when I was just 18, to my beautiful little boy.
It wasn’t planned, and it definitely wasn’t easy. His dad made the decision he didn’t want to be involved, so from the very beginning it was just me and him.
I was a single mum for the first five years of his life, figuring everything out as I went along.
I worked hard, did everything I could to make it work, and even though it wasn’t the path I imagined at that age, I’m incredibly proud that I did it all myself.
Then when my son was five, I met my now girlfriend — and we’ve been together nearly six years.
Two years into our relationship we welcomed the newest member of our little family… our dog Ralph.
Ralph is a crazy little staffy with the biggest heart and, honestly, the smelliest bum you’ll ever come across. But he’s our world.
School Was Never Easy
My story really begins back in school.
School was always incredibly difficult for me. I struggled to make friends and I was very emotionally dysregulated. I would have what people called “meltdowns”, and I never really understood why I felt the way I did.
I was also constantly exhausted.
I would go to bed early but could never wake up properly. I’d fall into such deep sleeps that my heart rate would slow dramatically. There were times my mum genuinely thought I had died because she couldn’t wake me.
Scary, I know.
Eventually came a list of diagnoses before I was even 12 years old:
- Narcolepsy (later changed to Idiopathic Hypersomnia, although both are still part of my diagnosis)
- Autism
- ADHD
This was all in the early 2010s, when neurodivergence wasn’t spoken about or understood the way it is now. It definitely wasn’t something widely accepted.
So I kept most of it to myself.
The only one people really knew about was my narcolepsy, mainly because teachers would give me detention for falling asleep in class.
School just wasn’t built for someone like me. I struggled to focus, take notes, complete work or really engage with what was going on.
But outside of the classroom, I thrived.
I loved sports. Any sport really. I was incredibly athletic and played at county level several times.
I was also part of a dance squad for years, something I absolutely loved. My grandad took me every Friday, and because I was so close to him those nights became some of the most special memories I have.
And then there was photography.
At 14 I took a media course that involved photography and videography. I didn’t realise it then, but that would eventually become one of the most important things in my life.
The Dark Years
Between the ages of 14 and 16, things changed dramatically.
My mental health declined very quickly.
I reached a point where I couldn’t leave the house. My anxiety was severe, I wasn’t coping in school, I was heavily medicated and came very close to being sectioned.
It was an incredibly dark time in my life.
One of those times where everything feels like it’s falling apart and you can’t see a way out.
The People Who Helped Me Heal
After school I went to college and decided to study childcare.
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I chose it. But it did lead me to something incredibly important — my best friend Cam.
Cam came into my life exactly when I needed him.
We bonded over our love of music and spent years going to festivals and concerts together. Big ones, small ones… if there was music, we were there.
He would hang out at mine, I’d hang out at his, and life finally started to feel fun again.
At the time I was working three jobs:
- A teaching assistant
- A children’s party host
- Nights in a VIP nightclub
It was busy, chaotic, but I was finally feeling like myself again.
Falling Pregnant at 17
Then life took another unexpected turn.
At 17, I fell pregnant.
It was completely unplanned and with someone I hadn’t been with very long. He decided he didn’t want to be a dad, so I prepared to do it alone.
I worked incredibly hard throughout my pregnancy and managed to pay for everything myself. It definitely wasn’t ideal at that age, but I was proud that I managed to stand on my own two feet.
When my son turned one, I went back to college and work.
I ended up working in a nursery for several years, which actually worked really well because my son could come to work with me.
Finding Photography Again
.When my son was three, my boyfriend at the time bought me a camera for my birthday.
I had mentioned wanting to get back into photography, and that camera changed everything.
I started taking photos of absolutely anything and everything.
It brought something back into my life that I had been missing for a long time...joy.
Photography gave me a creative outlet and something that felt like mine.
My grandad and Cam were both incredibly supportive of it, cheering me on the whole time.
They were two of the most important people in my life.
And then life changed again.
Losing the Two People I Needed Most
In 2020, when I was 23, we lost my beautiful best friend Cam.
A year later in 2021, we lost my grandad.
Two of the most important people in my life were suddenly gone.
It felt like the ground had disappeared beneath me. Those were the two people who had helped me through so much, and suddenly I felt completely alone again.
Meeting My Partner
Towards the end of 2020, I met my now partner.
Honestly, I don’t know where I would be today if I hadn’t met her.
She came into my life at a time when everything felt broken, and slowly helped me piece it back together again.
We built a life together, created our little family, and started looking towards the future.
Trying to Find My Place
After working lots of different jobs and spending two years at university studying psychology, I realised something important.
University wasn’t for me.
And traditional jobs didn’t work for me either.
Being neurodivergent and living with a sleep disorder that is completely unpredictable meant I was constantly trying to fit myself into systems that just weren’t built for someone like me.
Eventually I realised something.
Maybe the answer wasn’t trying to fit into someone else’s structure.
Maybe the answer was building my own.
Starting My Photography Business
In 2024, I finally took the leap and started my photography business.
It was heavily inspired by losing my best friend and my grandad. Losing them made me realise just how important memories really are. Photos become everything when the people in them are no longer here.
Because of my sleep disorder and not being able to drive, I don’t always have access to the same opportunities that many photographers might have. Travelling long distances or working in certain environments can be difficult for me.
For a long time I saw that as a limitation.
But over time I’ve realised something important — my experiences have actually shaped the kind of photographer I am.
I’ve built my business around creating a space where people feel understood, especially children and adults who might struggle in traditional environments. Families with children who have SEN, people who feel overwhelmed, shy, anxious, or simply need someone to slow down and listen.
Because I understand that feeling.
I know what it’s like to feel different, to feel misunderstood, or to feel like the world isn’t always built with you in mind.
So while some people might say I’m limited in certain ways, I actually believe my life experiences have given me something incredibly valuable.
Empathy.
Patience.
Understanding.
Those things can’t be taught in a course or learned overnight. They come from lived experience.
And if my business can be a place where people feel comfortable, listened to, and truly seen — then that means more to me than any opportunity I might have missed.
Two Years Later
This is only a shortened version of my story.
There’s so much more to it, some parts far too deep and personal for an online business blog.
But if you’ve read this far, whether you’re a client, someone who has followed my journey, or you’re just having a little nose around my website…
Thank you.
Truly.
Supporting my little business means more than you probably realise.
Because behind every photo I take is a story of how I got here.
And two years in, I’m only just getting started.
today I work as a Norfolk family photographer, specialising in relaxed, natural photography for families, newborns and children. My sessions are especially suited to families who want a calm, understanding environment, including children with SEN or additional needs. If you're looking for a photographer in Norfolk who focuses on connection, patience and real moments, I’d love to hear from you.
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