‘Beautiful celebration of life’
Losing a baby is a mother’s worst nightmare but for Cherie Ayrton the loss is a little easier due to a powerful photograph.
Petone-based photographer Sarah Simmons has won a prestigious international competition with her picture of newborn baby Tiger and the ashes of his twin brother, Johnny.
Wellington photographer Simon Woolf said the win was a milestone in New Zealand photography and the picture was technically perfect.
Ayrton said she would be forever grateful for Simmons, who captured an image of her twins she would always treasure.
Johnny died in the womb at five months but Ayrton still went ahead with her scheduled photo shoot, not quite sure how Simmons would handle the death of Johnny.
Simmons came up with the idea of wrapping Tiger in a cloth and using the cloth to connect with the ashes of Johnny, symbolising an umbilical cord.
‘‘I am just so grateful she took such an awesome photo, it was all down to her vision,’’ Ayrton said.
‘‘It was extremely emotional but it is nice to have such a strong image we can keep.’’
It took two shoots to get the image of Tiger right. The initial intention had been to have Tiger sleeping but Ayrton was delighted that his eyes were open and he appeared to be staring right at the camera.
Simmons said she had simple intentions.
‘‘The whole idea was to show they were still connected and had shared the same womb.’’ The photo was entered in the Portrait Masters, an annual competition and week-long conference in Las Vegas, and Simmons was delighted when it won the newborn category.
‘‘The judge described it as a beautiful celebration of life.’’
Simmons also entered the family section with a photo of twins Hayden and Kevin Eising.
As well as the two category wins, the photo of Tiger and Johnny was judged the best of more than 7000 entries.
A self-taught photographer, Simmons runs Charlie Horse Photography.