1500 photos in 1500 days... Mum captures the true reality of family life
Since her exhilarating, life-changing moment of a twelve week scan for her first born, Joseph, Bev Ridyard has spent the past 1500 days capturing family life through a camera lens.
What started as a bit of fun to document her pregnancy, ultimately led to a total change in lifestyle for the now mum-of-two from Saddleworth.
"I had so much fun photographing this chapter of my life that it ended up becoming part of our family culture," explained Bev.
"Once Joseph arrived, my world changed even more than I had imagined and life just took on a new meaning. It was Joseph who inspired me to leave my career as head of airline marketing at Manchester Airport and follow my new dream to become a photographer. 'Inspired by Joseph' was born and I have never been happier or more fulfilled in my life!"
Every day, Bev takes the opportunity to capture a memory from that day. Sometimes it is the mundane – the chaos of meal times – but others, it's a new milestone, such as taking Joseph and her second born, Victoria, out for the first time with no buggy – things that come and go in a heartbeat.
It’s also given Bev the opportunity to document new traditions that now form a part of her family culture.
The mum-of-two sees no end to this daily challenge.
"Yes, we all have good and bad days but usually each day is a limiting balance and, therefore, the ideal time to take the everyday moments which illustrate beautifully and authentically the story of life as a mum.
"In reality, being a mum isn’t always plain sailing but that isn’t a reason NOT to photograph it. It’s really easy to let life pass you by in the mundane of day to day life but the best part about memories is making them."
As well as photographing families, Bev works hard to empower mothers to take personal responsibility for realising the benefits of being in more photos with their children, documenting their day to day lives on a continuous basis.
"It bugs me that most mums don’t get in enough photos and I am on a mission to stop this for the sake of our children.
Moreover, what gives us the right to make this decision on their behalf? And it shouldn’t be up to the dads to take the photos either – don’t get me started on that one!
"In reality, I understand it when we say we don’t have time but if we spent one less minute using our phone for other purposes to instead take just one photo, surely we can all manage that?"
To help mums (in particular) to get in photos, Bev runs a challenge on Instagram called #my18in18 and asks mums to get in 18 photos in 2018 so that they have SOME photos of themselves to look back on at the end of the year.
Get involved at https://www.instagram.com/i