Becoming a teenager

I don't remember turning thirteen. It wasn't really a big deal to me, I had a party which I recall via photos that sit in the family album, but to me, it was just another birthday. I didn't see it as anything bigger than that. I breezed through my birthdays not thinking a great deal about my age and what each number meant and sadly didn't embrace my teenage years like I wish I should have.

My Mum however often told me about how excited she was to turn thirteen, like it was a magic number that would be the gateway to so many things she would be allowed to do. She became a teenager in the mid-sixties, a time when the fashion industry had taken London by storm with short skirts and bright colours and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had teenagers in a frenzy. She would be allowed to wear a little make-up and maybe be treated less like a child and more like an adult.

I photographed some young girls last month as a Birthday photo shoot. These 5 pretty girls aged between 11 & 13 turned up full of confidence with bags full of make up, hair straighteners, clothing options and minds full of ideas about how they would like to have their photos taken. They were fantastic, so young and fresh, but clearly so grown up and independent already.

I couldn't help thinking after the shoot, how short childhood really is. REAL Childhood, the kind where you want to play in a park, ride a bike, sing and dance without inhibitions, cuddle a teddy and have a story read before bed. My girls seem so young yet a quarter of this precious time is already over for Mercy, before she becomes a teenager.... that magic age when you won't want to be considered a child anymore...

It's why I take pictures, to capture these precious moments and hopefully somehow freeze time....