Family Album

Kata Sedlak of Slovakia began taking photographs of her family while on maternity leave. She had her Leica X2 constantly on hand, and there was hardly a moment she did not spend with her children. The outcome is a private family album, that expresses a feeling of closeness and security in haunting black and white images.

“The idea behind the Family Stories photo series emerged during my three-year maternity leave. I love to work with light, and with facial and physical expressions. The story captures the everyday life of our family.

My children are used to it – if I see something beautiful, I just start taking photos immediately, in a matter of seconds. When I press the camera trigger, I know in advance what the resulting picture will look like. It’s hard to capture and depict the mood of children – the younger the babies are, the harder it is; cooperation with them is complicated …

On the other hand, only children are able of coming up with such fabulous ideas. They are the creators of the scene itself. To me every day represents a new movie, a new story and a new adventure for my family, and I have to capture it from my perspective.“