The Watman Family Session

It’s time to meet March’s Barley Monks Single Mum Jamie.

I was so happy photographing this family session with Jamie and her girls. Not only was I able to take a family trip to the beach for the weekend on the central coast, and photograph the family session using much more of the photography style I enjoy – candid, documentary and natural.

After hearing Jamie’s story and meeting her and her girls Savannah and Sofia. I am so glad I was able to offer this small gift to them. She has amazing strength and they have such a great bond. You can tell they are a tight little unit and hopefully I was able to capture that in their photos.

Read Jamie’s story and see some of the photo highlights from her family session below.

How long have you been a single mum?

I have been a single mum for the better part of 6 years

How has being a single mum changed you?

Being a single mum is a challenge, but has brought out qualities of resilience, strength and courage that I did not know existed. I don’t know any different.

For the most part I have raised my 2 beautiful daughters alone. I was thrust into the unknown without someone to bounce off, someone to hand the reins over to (beside my beautiful mum – thanks, love you mum!). I summoned up everything within me to move on with my life, leave behind the circumstances out of my control and love the life that I have with my girls.

Being a single mum taught me that I am capable, that I am not what happened to me nor am I who people perceive me to be. I am me. I am my true self, and people can either accept me, or not.

What advice can you give to other women who are about to be single mothers?

Becoming a single mum was the single most hardest thing I have done in my life, but I am so glad I did it. It may take a while to feel like you again. It may be hard at first, it might not ever get easier, but somehow you seem to manage. There is a huge world out there, and so many people who are willing and able to help. When the going gets tough – Speak out if you need a bit of a hand up.

What is the hardest part?

For me the hardest part of being a single parent has to be the lack of day-to-day support within the home. Not having someone to share the ups and downs of raising children with. Not having someone there to tag you out when you need a breather. My youngest daughter Sofia has a chronic severe blood condition. Over the past 2 years Sofia and I have spent quite a lot of time in and out of hospital for admissions, procedures, clinic appointments, blood tests… the list goes on. Dealing with that without the support of a partner was really rough. I relied heavily on my extended family and close friends to help me out.

Financially, not being able to work while Sofia was unwell, it was extremely hard to make ends meet. But…………. as a family we made it through. Sofia is presently in remission however doctors are unsure whether this is an isolated incident or if it is the beginning of a larger picture issue. We are taking each day as it comes. Savannah is loving us being back home again with the occasional little hiccoughs in life showing us just how far we have come.

What is the best part?

The best part about being a single mum – Being able to see everything through my own eyes. That I see every day the love my girls have for me, and that the girls see every day the love I have for them. We have such a close bond, there is so much love in my home that I have made for them.

How did you find working with Nick and Barley Monks Photography?

Working with Nick was incredible. It was like he was a fly on the wall, the girls and I went about our afternoon playing at the beach and in the rock-pools, not even noticing that Nick was around snapping beautiful shots for us. When sharing a brief story with Nick about my life, and my girls, we connected and laughed about kids names (ironically I had heard the other side of the story from Nick’s wife when we spoke on the phone, and we both had a good giggle). Nick was very friendly, the kids really reacted to him well and he encouraged their “fierce” side to come out to play.