Category

Self Portrait

Location

My home studio Brixton

Gear

Canon 5d Mk3

Description

From the series MotherWorks, this self-portrait is of me and my boys in my home studio. When I was pregnant with my first son I was asked to shoot for Vogue by Mike Trow. I said I couldn’t as I had a tiny baby I was breastfeeding. Mike said I should bring the baby along and so my career continued, my sons were cuddled by celebrities and models and it all worked fine until they were big enough to dismantle my lighting gear. I soon learnt that other mothers were not so lucky - with around 54,000 a year being forced to leave their job when they become pregnant. This was the inspiration for MotherWorks, an exhibition and book representing and recognising the UK’s amazing working mums. And led to me capturing myself and my boys. You can see the shutter release in my right hand, but not the pile of chocolate - payment, just out of shot. The light came from the studio I was taught in by Simon Gear - an industry professional for 30 years, and the umbrella belonged to my father, Erich Freund, also a photographer, who went on to work for Agfa. I love that my youngest got ‘the finger’ into the shot, which is very him. Never work with children or animals, especially your own! The MotherWorks exhibition was part of the Hundred Heroines exhibition in Chelsea 2019 and was shown in The Houses of Parliament, Upper Waiting Hall for International Women’s Day March 2020.

Photographer

Fiona Freund

Social Media

Instagram: fionafreund

Twitter: fionafreund

Website: http://www.fionafreund.com/

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