Believe me when I say these are just stunning in person. They are beautifully printed on 300gsm archival fine art rag paper and they look so much better than I could have imagined. Each print is a limited edition and numbered and signed by me. And I am delighted that they are now hanging in homes around the world, from Hong Kong to France to the USA, and not only in India.

They are available HERE.

THANK YOU for all the sales so far. Please do send me images of them hanging in your homes across the world. I am delighted that so many people have a little piece of India magic to brighten up their days.

The post Fine Art Prints of the Beauty of India appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

My firstborn child is an adult. I mean I knew it would happen, obviously. But still I feel all at odds with formulating the words to describe how it feels. Of course I want to say how proud I am of her, but it’s more than that, there’s a deep intensity and admiration within our relationship that almost makes me in awe of her. She holds herself within any room with a grace that I never had at that age.

And I wonder how we got to that? Was it always something in her, or have I imparted some piece of my significantly older wisdom into her? I know I’ve grown up through parenting her – realised things about myself that I’d never have learnt without her, and the significant challenges we’ve been through together. She holds a feisty passion, I think that was from me, but she handles it with maturity that impresses me. I know at 18 mine spilled out in all kinds of messy directions as I tried to utilise it to propel me.

She has fire and love in her soul and I know that’s a mirror of me, but me now, not my teenage self who was scared of those feelings that were patterns I hadn’t seen before. She’ll do good things in the world, I know that. We need people who are kind, whose hearts are open. Sure ambition helps, education helps. But kindness, that’s where it’s really at.

And so, as I watch her step out into the world with pride, both of her, and at the fact I raised a human to adulthood I feel all tongue tied because she’s so different from anything I knew or expected 18 years ago. And watching her become herself has been the most beautiful journey of all.

I love you so much my Saffykins, Mama xxxx

Images from your 18th birthday party | February 2024

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or reflections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit these wonderful ladies who have also penned letters to their children: Diana Hagues and Leila Balin

March 2023 | New Delhi | India

The post Artifact Motherhood | March 24 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

But time ran away, as it so often does when we’re living life to it’s fullest, yet also leaning into the necessary quiet moments and allowing ourselves stillness. This time of year in particular, with Diwali and travels, and Christmas and weddings, and parties, and socialising and school stuff – we love it, but it’s full. Oh and work too, there’s always that! And I love seeing you both embracing the opportunities life throws at you, and knowing how blessed you are to have them. And how in this turbulent world not everyone has this kind of privilege, nor the safety and security we have.

So I’ll stop that rambling now. I just want you both to know that through all those ups and downs, the scary moments and the exuberantly joyful ones it’s the biggest privilege of my life to be by your side.

I love you my girlies, Mama xxxx

Images: Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, November 2023

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or reflections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit the wonderful Diana Hagues

Dec 2023 | New Delhi | India

The post By your side | Artifact Motherhood, December 2023 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

View of the Valley, before…

I love you and all your brave determination, Mama, xx

This is part of ARTIFACT MOTHERHOOD – a project shared with other female artists who are documenting our journeys as mothers and creating memories for our children through our photographs and words.

Our seasons are short snippets in the midst of real life where we pause to remember, reflect or document. Now go to the next artist Diana Hagues to see where she is in this Season of Motherhood.

July 2023 | Himachal Pradesh, India

The post Season of Motherhood | October 23 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

This jetsetting life! People think it’s so glamorous right? All fun and five star! The reality is we haven’t got on a plane for leisure in a long, long time – even before the pandemic. We fly to see loved ones. Seeing those people we don’t get to spend enough time and for whom FaceTime isn’t enough – we just want to be there with them, by their sides. There are comfortable late nights catching up that fill our cups, long chat filled walks through scenery we cherish, and hugs and laughter over shared moments. There’s familiar food, and beloved places, with beds you know and childhood memories.

But anyone who’s ever been an expat knows that taking a break from your everyday life to cross the world and see family is never a holiday. You live out of suitcases, eat food on the go, travelling from one place to another, different beds every few nights. Everything’s concentrated into those few days you have together, and that’s lovely, but intense. There’s providing all the help you can while you’re there, to ease the load of not being readily available to lend a hand the rest of the year. There are always trade-offs. And full weekends when everyone you want to see is off work at the same time. There are logistics to juggle, and jet lag, and usually some paperwork to catch up on while you’re at “home”. And eyewatering gulps at the expense of it all, with a back of the head plan to pull in even more work, (and even more pressure) when you’re back at your other home again.

I’m not complaining, no one forces us to make these trips. I love our family, and our time with them, but I am being realistic about where my own capabilities are. I’ve learnt to have those soft buffer days in the middle where we see no one. We just be. We walk and we breathe the air under the same sky but without a schedule, just for a day or 2.

And why am I writing this to you my little loves? Because I know you feel it too as you grow into adulthood yourselves. And I want you to grow up being realistic – about work, life balances. I want you to be aware of responding to your own needs, even in the midst of helping others. And I need you to understand doing things out of love, rather than some form of obligation. There are no “ought to’s” about our trips – but they work because we listen to ourselves and weave in the “us time” in the midst of the beauty of family time. 

And sometimes at the end, when the tears fall as we say goodbye, because we’ll miss them so much and we’ve had such a wonderful trip, we’re realistic enough to know that it’s also because the exhaustion has hit, and we just want to get on that plane and drift into sleep.

I’m grateful that you’re there with me through these beautiful family filled days, and soak them up as I do,

I love you, Mama xxxx

Images: Gatwick Airport, London. June 2023

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or reflections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit the wonderful Leila Balin

Sept 2023 | New Delhi | India

The post The Jetsetting Life! | Artifact Motherhood September 2023 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

And while I also hate to resort to stereotypes, particularly about teenagers, it’s true that you’re infinitely better than me at just letting things float on past, and lazing around, taking what you need from the universe, and also taking the time you need to recharge. And I find myself watching, and learning and being led by you. You’re reminding me that I can lean in to the slow days. That I need to listen to my body more, and sometimes it’s OK to let an opportunity float on by. And so our chilly winter days have had a lot of just hanging out at home, interspersed with weekends of activity. And then more time to recharge, and just be.

I think we’re steadying the needle, on our three person scale, that responds to our varying needs, fills up our souls, and helps each of us to identify our own internal balance. Sometimes it gets thrown off, by illness or extra stuff at school, but I think we’re doing better, and isn’t that the point? That we just try. That we don’t feel the need to match up to someone elses idealised notion of perfection, we find our own ways to be.

I’ve always loved a good pyjama day, but I think in the midst of it all I forgot how soul filling they can be, so thank you for helping me to soak our “hanging out at home days” all up, and reminding me that there is imperfect perfection in slow winter days, and allowing myself to just be,

I love you, Mama, xxxx

Images from multiple slow winter days – January, February, March 2023.

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or reflections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit the wonderful Jessie Nelson

March 2023 | New Delhi | India

The post Slow Winter Days | Artifact Motherhood, March 2023 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

When the project wrapped up at the end of 2021 I decided I couldn’t let go of this habit of savouring time, week by week, and I would continue by myself to pull together one photo roughly every 7 days that maybe summed up a moment I treasured, or where we were, or that I wanted to share. And with that comes a summary, as in previous years, of our year! These summaries started out back in 2014 as purely factual, mere details to accompany images, but have become more wordy and meandering as the years have gone by. Memories becoming etched into my soul, and maybe one day spilling out onto the page. I’m happy to have embraced this side of the project to supplement the images.

2022 started off in Delhi with the familiarity of a lockdown! The kids went back to online school for the first 7 weeks. The city had weekend curfews. And blimey was it cold! Our apartment, built to let heat out, and without any form of heating was mostly colder than outside, and outside went down to 3 degrees!! Add to that the wettest January on record and we spent a lot of time hugging our 2 little radiators and trundling them from room to room! Saffy, like a trooper, sat her GCSE mocks online, wrapped up in a fluffy jacket and woolly socks.

Birthdays were celebrated on zoom, and the girls made me a cake for mine by scheming with our landlady and using her oven. As soon as the exams were done, with the prospect of online school ongoing we popped over to see Tommy in UAE, for some freedom in the mountains and trips to the Dubai Expo2020, a mere 2 years late but certainly worth the wait! We returned to Delhi to a school that had reopened, and news that a meglomaniac nut job was starting a war.

We cycled through Holi and Ramadan, both of which meant visits from Tommy who once some covid restrictons were lifted was thankfully able to visit with a little more ease each time. And then GCSE’s loomed. For Saffy, an autistic kid who struggles in ways that are unseen to most, and seems to the outside world smart and capable this was a challenge. Add to that the fact she’d been to school on less than 20% of the days you would over a typical 2 year period and I really couldn’t be prouder of how hard she worked. I’m always a worrier about her, but she impressed me and blossomed with a newfound confidence and a work ethic that reassured me that she’ll do OK as long as she returns to her internal compass, grounds herself, and continues to focus on her strengths and passions – whether they’re typical school / academic subjects or not.

Our downtime during those hot pre-Monsoon days was spent largely indoors as India suffered a heatwave with record temperatures. We lay like lizards on our marble floors and the disdain we’d felt towards them back in January was reversed. When the electricity supply was overwhelmed we hung out in one room, and I love that the girls are at a stage where we can all just peacefully and comfortably be in the same space together. A benefit of last years lockdowns and the worlds tiniest hotel quarantine room maybe?

We spent time practicing waltz moves in anticipation of a darling friends wedding, 2 years overdue. And on the day Saffy’s exams finished we picked her up, rushed home for showers and were at the airport 2 hours later. Following a flight to Dubai, lack of suitable airline transfers meant we had to be chauffeured to Abu Dhabi, by our favourite UAE resident naturally, to fly from there to Manchester, from where a car was rented, and a coffee fueled drive to Blackpool got us there for 10:30 for the girls to be coiffed and dressed in their bridesmaid attire to be aisle ready by 12:30! Phew! And the most joyful wedding it was too – not to mention that our Strictly Superfans were delighted to be able to try their dance moves on the famous Tower Ballroom floor, with their favourite Rotherham “aunties”. 

We then spent time in our teasured Yorkshire spots, including the village I grew up in, which my parents have moved back to. Whilst we miss their amazing uninterrupted countryside view the amenities of the village are so much better. And we got to have fun shopping for essentials for their new home, as well as helping them install them. We had a couple of weekends with Tommy’s family too, including the fun of babysitting the 2 youngest members, which involved a lot of trampoline time!!

And then back to UAE we went. It’s hard for us to get family time together when visiting family or with other pressures on our time so for the Eid holiday we headed off down to the mountains of Oman and managed a 9 day break with hiking and pool time, and a fabulous set of zip lines and an adventure zone, as well as the goat and fish markets and all the nitty gritty things that Indy and I love getting in to! A zoom down to Abu Dhabi for work for me, and friends for the girls was another little break, but I admit it’s always a little weird to visit the place that was home for so long.

The constant “home jumping” can be hugely unsettling and the weird thing is that Tommy’s home looks like our home as he has most of our furniture, art, possessions and the kids childhood treasures, but it’s not home and never will be – it’s a feeling of displacement that’s hard to explain. It feels like every time we get on a plane (and we try reeeeeeeeally hard not to take them whenever possible) we leave a piece of us somewhere. Possessions scattered, and temporary homes in multiple places means often we’re never quite 100% somewhere, no matter how much we immerse ourselves in the present to be content in the moment.

But immerse ourselves in the here and now we do, by grabbing opportunities wherever we can. After a rocky return to school, thanks to a shock covid positive test on the first day which extended the girls time at home, we got settled back in, both in Delhi and into a routine of exploring, on our doorstep and further afield. I joined 7 Cities as a mentor – a programme I wholeheartedly recommend for newcomers to Delhi, having met the most adorable set of friends through it myself when I undertook the programme. And we had trips to Orchha and Pushkar which were a delight, plus a week long jaunt to the mountains of Uttarakhand for some hikes and fresh air over Diwali – simply wonderful.

In the midst of this I continued to create, and to work for beautiful clients, and nurture and guide beautiful souls to find themselves on their photography journey. Photo walks and talks have become part of my days and seeing photography spark joy in others will never get old. I managed to write and teach another class, “Creativity on the Fly”. A topic close to my heart, it embraces slowing down, noticing the everyday and absorbing that into our creative flow so that it slowly infuses into our photography. I believe in the power of curiosity in leading my vision, and the class builds on those intuitive concepts I shared previously in “Photography on the Fly”. I was overwhelmed by the response and number of incredible students who immersed themselves in it, and it remains available to study at your own pace if it’s a creative concept that resonates with you. 

The winter holidays brought a trip to the UK for our first Christmas there since 2017. We had a whistlestop university tour so the girls, who’ve never lived in the UK (except for a while during covid) could get to grips with the geography and feel of different areas. There was tree decorating, baking with Nainai, and a return to our beloved panto tradition, hugs and love with cousins, an 80^th birthday celebration and long countryside walks. And it was beautiful but exhausting. New year saw a flying visit to Abu Dhabi, where sitting around a living room table with wine and old friends felt refreshingly familiar and the perfect low key start to the new year.

So how to sum up 2022? It felt like the return to “normality” meant it went by far too fast. In short…. Both girls got braces. We did lots more lockdown “Just Dance”. We played flower Holi! We did more jigsaws, and sampled even more delightful street foods from Old Delhi. We continued to have doughnuts every time Tommy left – a tradition now set in stone. And comforting rajma masala every time we arrive back. We explored with the slow luxury of the trains. We hiked Pen Y Ghent again, just for fun. We celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Chathh puja and many others and tried to remember what each festival signified, and probably failed many times over! We tried to speak a little Hindi, and mostly fail at that too – but it’s the trying that counts, right? Indy is an expert at making a big pot of chai every Saturday morning. Saffy is the editor of the school magazine. I presented at a huge international conference again, and told the stories of motherhood on stage, more than once. Indy’s photos were exhibited in Sharjah, and Bath and London, and my work was shown at the Belfast Photo Festival. Both of us won awards and were published more than once. Saffy won a poetry contest with a poignant piece highlighting the daily harassment teen girls can face.  We randomly met fabulous Emirati star Khalid Al Ameri by the Jama Masjid one day. Tommy hiked mountains and jumped off cliffs. And suffered the effects of climate change when flooding turned his 7km commute into a 7 hour ordeal.  There have been dance practices and choir for the girls, and yoga for me. Plus new friends, and old ones visiting. And books and singing and more dancing again – always dancing, always dancing……

I feel like the low key start to 2023 I mentioned is a sign. A sign to slow down. I hate busy, always have, and the last few years have been a whole huge pile of a lot of layers of stuff for our family – emotions, situations, environments, illness, adaptations… the list goes on – there’s been so much good that we’ve learnt about ourselves but I could have done without some of the seriously shitty times. Whatever this year brings, I’m here for it – but with plenty of slow time to soak it up too, please

Happy 2023, and much love for slow days for you too, Kirsty xx

PS I’m delighted to share that one of the images I chose this year will be part of the upcoming “Eye Mama Project” Book – available HERE or at your usual book suppliers

PPS More Wish You Were Here annual summaries HERE

PPSS (is that a thing?) I’ve had to backdate this post because despite me writing it back in January, life did get too busy and it took me until March to actually hit publish on it! Ugh! NOW it has to slow down right

The post Wish You Where Here 2022 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

With university visits making up part of our Christmas holidays, lessons in self sufficiency and development of life skills become part of your days. I’m glad we have time still, and it’s just part of the preparation process right now – we’ll get there, both of us,

love you, Mama, xx

This is part of ARTIFACT MOTHERHOOD – a project shared with other female artists who are documenting our journeys as mothers and creating memories for our children through our photographs and words.

Our seasons are short snippets in the midst of real life where we pause to remember, reflect or document. Now go to the next artist Jo Haycock to see where she is in this Season of Motherhood.

December 2022 | the little house in Yorkshire, England

The post Season of Motherhood | February 2023 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

This is part of ARTIFACT MOTHERHOOD – a project shared with other female artists who are documenting our journeys as mothers and creating memories for our children through our photographs and words.

Our seasons are short snippets in the midst of real life where we pause to remember, reflect or document. Now go to the next artist, Leila Balin, to see where she is in this Season of Motherhood.

October 2022 | A train across Uttar Pradesh, India

The post Season of Motherhood | October 2022 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

Not only did you absolutely give it your best. But you worked through obstacles that seem invisible to others when you’re neurodivergent. You got up at 2am during cold English winter days to do online school. You lived through times where you couldn’t leave our flat in Delhi. You kept going through a family crisis that rocked us to our core. And after spending one whole school year online, you physically went to school on less that 20% of all the days you should have throughout your 2 years of GCSE’s – which when you look back will feel insane, incredible, and an achievement of significant magnitude.

It was never about a string of letters or results, it was about you, putting your mind to something, focussing, and making those choices for yourself, and your own future my love. And that’s what I’m so proud of – onwards to the next stage sweetie. Remember, you never have to try to be the best at everything, pick and choose your focus, but the things you’re passionate about – find them, and throw your whole self into those things.

I believe in you my sweetheart, Mama, xxxx

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or reflections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit the other wonderful contributors Leila, Min, Ann, Jo, Diana, Hollie,

September 2022 | New Delhi | India

The post Doing your best | Artifact Motherhood September 2022 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

So I started with what I know best – making it part of our everyday. Before we even lift a camera, before we think of composition, or lighting, or setting and story. We need to weave creativity into our lives. Now, I believe we are all creative, no matter what any of us may have been told, but we are all unique in our creativity, which means teaching it is a huge task. Instead I believe that we can nurture it, encourage it, nudge it to be set free, in our daily lives, and onwards to infuse into our photography.

And so “Creativity on the Fly” was born – as a follow up to my much loved previous guide “Photography on the Fly”. POTF was a guide to becoming intuitive in photography, and this new guide is a stage deeper, a dive into being creative in our lives, and then layering that into the images we make from the lives that we live and the unique ways that each of us see. It’s not a lightning bolt of a class – it’s a slow infusion, hopefully with a bunch of aha moments along the way.

I could not be more proud to launch this into the world. It comes with a huge chunk of my heart and soul embedded right in there along with a holding hand for your own creative journey.

A guide to infusing creativity into your days, and your photography

If you’re looking to infuse more creative depth into your images this self paced course will help by digging into creative practices and guiding you to be more in tune to opportunities in your every day. You will feel more intuitive in your artistic vision with heightened awareness to layer richness into your photographic storytelling.

You’ll come away with:

• A deeper emotional understanding of what makes you tick creatively
• Insights to help intentionally ground your creativity
• Methods to kickstart paying attention to opportunities
• Techniques to slow down and notice
• Ideas to infuse creativity into everyday photos
• Thoughts on how to allow your artistic journey to naturally evolve

This course is for you if:

• You understand the basics of photography but want to take your creativity up a level
• You want to think less about the technical aspects of photography
• You want to be more thoughtful in your creative processes
• You want to notice more creativity in your daily routine
• You need a creative boost to get you out of a rut
• You want to add more creative depth, emotion and vision to your storytelling

What’s in your online classroom:

• A 100 + page PDF with thoughts and techniques for infusing more creativity into your everyday routines
• 3 videos that discuss living a creative life and bringing depth to your photos
• A series of behind the scenes videos showing Kirsty documenting life creatively in different environments and lighting
• A series of videos talking through photos where different creative techniques have been used to enhance the story being told – through compositional elements, lighting and creative techniques
• 2 creative meditations to help slow down your mind and tune in to your creativity
• A stunning printable creative exercise book to help you journal on creative ideas
• A PDF of creative projects to inspire you

There are personal notes spaced throughout to share experiences. There are exercises to grow your creativity. And throughout there’s my hand on your shoulder, nudging you along, deeper into your creativity. Some days it can be a struggle, I know. The last 2 years have been rough and have sucked the drive to document our everyday from us, but this is the time to rise up, to embrace our creativity again and not let it slip through the cracks.

I can’t wait to have you join me,

much love, Kirsty xx

The post Creativity on the Fly, a Self Paced Course by Kirsty Larmour appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.

I’m not a fan of judging people by a string of letters after their name. Achievements come in all shapes and sizes and should be celebrated – sometimes making dinner for your family is an achievement, or just getting through a day of frustrations in a country that’s complex to live in, or climbing a really big hill (or 3, amiright? ), and yet I know that your choice to take these exams shows your determination to see them as an opportunity, as a stepping stone on the path to what you achieve in life. And I believe strongly in taking opportunities when we feel they’re right for us and so I believe in you and the hard work you’ve put in through really truly difficult times. Pandemic or not, this has been a rough 2 years.

Along the way you’ve had us, both me and your Baba, here beside you – sometimes physically, sometimes not. I’m here to listen, to feed you, to make sure you’re physically in the right place at the right time and with hugs when they’re needed. And he’s on the end of a zoom call or whatsapp whenever you need to double check maths or concepts I can’t get my head around and to help you focus. I’ve seen how distance has forced Baba to be so much more intentional in his parenting, and that has been a huge positive for you, and for him.

You’re so lucky to have a sister who’s your biggest cheerleader, who picks up the slack on chores when you have an exam the next day, or practices lines or flash cards with you – it’s all part of the support team. And in that team let’s not forget wonderful teachers, from FS1 up, and an incredible learning support assistant who has responded to your own unique needs.

I talk a lot about attributes of our personalities and our hearts being what shows the people we are. Your kindness, thought, friendship, sensitivity and care are such deeply important characteristics that I hope you’ll always nurture. But with this stage you’ve shown different traits and I think the tenacity you’ve displayed will hold you in good stead in achieving your dreams in life. When the exams are over, we’ll all celebrate. Because you dove head first into grasping this opportunity, and whilst the hard work has come from you, but we’ve all been part of the ride.

We love you and we’re so proud of your attitude and determination – we’re always here by your side,

love Mama, xxxx

This post is part of Artifact Motherhood, a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom or refelections on life here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Next please visit the wonderful Hollie Stokes over HERE

May 2022 | New Delhi | India

The post Taking Opportunities | Artifact Motherhood, May 2022 appeared first on Kirsty Larmour Photography - Storytelling Photography Worldwide.