Photographing children with special needs - ZoPhoto

So here it is, something that has adorned my wall for many years, a very dated school photo of me sitting proud in my Princess Diana dress and Purdy haircut. Love them or hate them, the humble school photo is still hanging on the walls and sitting on the mantlepieces of homes the length and breadth of the country. It’s a tradition that is showing no sign of slowing down and one that every child/young adult experience every year, or so I thought……

Imagine my surprise to hear that some schools, mostly the ones who provide specialist care don’t always get this opportunity. So, when I was approached by Birtenshaw and asked if I would consider coming in and taking photos of the children/young adults in their care, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Now, I am not going to lie and say I wasn’t apprehensive about the task in hand but with a fail to prepare, prepare to fail attitude, I arrived on the first day and put up a robust lighting set up and waited for my first customer to arrive. I’m not ashamed to admit that it took me all of 2 minutes to realise that I was no longer in charge and if I wanted to get the best shots possible, I had to hand over the reins to the very people this school was built for. Some were curios and more interested in the camera and lights, some were understandably apprehensive, but others were natural born posers and produced some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. The staff were an amazing help to me and it’s clear from the children/young adults that their dedication to their job is why the smiles were so big.

It truly is a shame that these schools don’t always get the same opportunities as mainstream educational settings and I hope this will change. I certainly know that the photography community is a very caring one so I’m sure plenty of fellow photographers would love the opportunity to help where they can. In the next post,  I have taken the opportunity to write the following blog which gives an insight into what I learned about photographing students in a special needs environment, in the hope it will inspire others https://www.zophoto.co.uk/-/galleries/blog/the-lost-portrait

In the meantime, I’ll remember my time at Birtenshaw with great fondness and I offer my sincere gratitude to the staff and pupils for making me very welcome. I’m so grateful that places like this exist to provide a happy and safe educational setting for those that need it.