Emma Collins

co-founder, mentor

From humble beginnings of wrapping newborn babies back in 2010, to having a successful lifestyle business, Emma has become one of the leading documentary family photographers in the UK and has won several Documentary Family Photography awards, including Best Overall and Environmental Portrait categories twice in a row. Her heart has been won by the powerful stories that documenting family life offers, showing families that life doesn’t have to be manicured, that what they have together is their perfect. She is passionate about spreading this message, raising the profile of the genre and teaching photographers how to elevate their images to create art from the everyday chaos.

Emma’s Instagram | Emma’s Website

Image © Diana Hagues

Antonina Mamzenko

co-founder, mentor

Antonina is a recovering lawyer who moved from Russia to the UK in search of an adventure and found her home. She started her lifestyle family photography business back in 2009 and after getting tired of telling people what to wear and where to sit, transitioned to a more documentary approach in 2015. Over the past 10 years she has become one of the leading UK family photographers working with clients from all over the globe. She has shortlisted for Portrait of Britain twice, and her work has been published and exhibited nationally and internationally. Her superpower is documentary portraiture and capturing authentic moments of humour and connection. An introvert to the core, she is passionate about teaching photographers how they can run a profitable photography business while playing to their unique strengths – and without burning out.

Antonina’s Instagram | Antonina’s Website

Image © Ralu Chase

Francesca Codispoti

community moderator

An Italian in London, Francesca has been documenting her life for as long as she can remember, through photographs, journals, lists, and objects. Discovering documentary family photography as a genre was a pivotal moment in her life, and she never looked back. Through her photos, she aims to show the beauty in the ordinary, particularly in a world obsessed with filtered perfection and fakery. Francesca likes to connect with her subjects and approaches each shoot with the mindset of a photojournalist, aiming to capture the story behind each individual photograph. Francesca has won multiple international awards, including ones with This Is Reportage Family and the Family Photojournalist Association. She loves to evolve as a photographer, even if it means stepping out of her comfort zone. In her past life, Francesca was a tax adviser for the ultra-wealthy, a job she loved until she no longer did.

Francesca’s Instagram | Francesca’s Website

Image © Francesca Codispoti

Elika Hunt

community moderator

Elika Hunt is a family documentary photographer based in Estonia. She started to love photography back in 2008 and after many wedding and studio pictures she transitioned to a more family documentary approach in 2019. She values perfectly imperfect moments in our everyday life. Her style is spontaneous and natural. Elika observes deeper from the colourful daily life to notice the essence of the subject, the beauty in joy and chaos, love in the gestures. Her creations can be described as perception of perfection in different moments, in people’s emotions and behaviour patterns, relationships and their integration. With photographs, she is creating a visual heritage that helps to remember the nature of a person and family, feelings together with stories. She has participated in many Estonian as well as international master classes. She is recognised by various international competitions. She is a member of the Family Photojournalist Association and their TOP25 photographer in 2021 and 2022.

Elika’s Instagram | Elika’s Website

Image © Taavi Hunt

Nic Shuttleworth

community moderator

Nic has a lifelong interest in real people, real lives and storytelling which began as a child on her mum’s mobile hairdressing round, entertaining clients with stories, making drawings and paintings for anyone who would take them! Following many years in the design and art direction world, specialising in brand development and storytelling, Nic found documentary family photography and everything just made sense. Photography, as ‘storytelling’ now lies at the heart of her approach, fascinated by the creative potential of a photograph to capture something truly unique and special about a particular moment. Nic continues to develop her creative process through immersing herself in the lives of others, to make images which expose real narratives. She is passionate about raising the documentary genre and uses her experience in design and art direction to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces of art for families and their homes.

Nic’s Instagram | Nic’s Website

Image © Anna Mehta

Rebecca Thompson

community moderator

Rebecca made the jump from public relations to photographer five years ago, when she realised that she wanted to create the stories she wrote about day in, day out. Having been obsessed with stories from a child, Rebecca stumbled into documentary photography when she was trying to photograph her own high energy children and finding the traditional style of portraits lacking. Fast forward to now, and Rebecca has
photographed families up and down the UK becoming a specialist at photographing children, embracing their personalities and love for life, to capture true family life. She also works with brands that are predominantly aimed at children and the natural world, offering brands the unique chance to capture children as they are, without the need for studios and forced smiles. Rebecca’s work encapsulates the very essence of childhood and the freedom that only being
yourself will allow.

Rebecca’s Instagram | Rebecca’s Website