As a photographer I rarely feature in our family photos since I am usually the one behind the camera. It seems the greatest irony to me and is the unfortunate downside to having a professional camera that baffles my husband.

I'm really passionate about the importance of capturing motherhood as much as childhood. My own childhood albums are very special to me, there is magic in seeing my mum at my age now, dressed in an 80's jumpsuit and holding a little me in her arms.

Photos are part of our legacy, they transport us back to a moment in time. By keeping ourselves absent from our family albums we aren't recording one of the most precious and wonderful of seasons in our life - early motherhood. 

I wanted to celebrate mothers and the incredible job that they do by running some mother and child sessions, specifically to capture mums with their babies and children. There is a tenderness, an instinctive protectiveness that exists between mothers and their little ones and it's palpable in these pictures. The way a child leans into the warmth of his mother's knook, close to her comforting heartbeat gets me every time I photograph it.

It's these images, of you with your children, that deserve a place on your mantlepiece and in your family albums. You, after all, breathed life into your children, grew them inside of your own body and nurtured them when they were their most vulnerable. Treasure these years and capture them as much as you can, weave your way into your picture books and make sure you're visible in your memories, and theirs in the years to come.

All photographs are copyright LittleKinPhotography. Little Kin Photography specialises in the natural-light photography of pregnancy, newborns, babies, toddlers, children and families in West London and Surrey (Richmond upon Thames, St Margarets, Twickenham, Teddington, Hampton, West Molesey, Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton, Kew, Chiswick, Barnes, East Sheen, Putney, Fulham, Wimbledon, Dorking, Clapham, Battersea, Kensington, Chelsea, Esher, Weybridge and Cobham)