Making Memories

Self-taught newborn and maternity photographer Reka Choy wants her past insecurities to help inspire women to celebrate their bodies, as Simone Hellyer discovers.

- Simone Hellyer

Her own insecurities made Sussex-based photographer Reka Choy miss out on the opportunity to get professional pictures of herself and her young children when she had the chance. But rather than dwelling on this regret, Reka retrained as a photographer and has now created a business that specialises in newborn and maternity images.

From her new studio, just outside Haywards Heath, Reka captures images of women in the throes of pregnancy as well as newborn babies in the first weeks of life – images that she wished she would have captured when her children were born.

“I didn’t have any professional photos taken of my children when they were newborns or any of me because of finances and because I thought that I looked too big,” she says. “But now I want to tell people not to let these feelings hold you back because in the grand scheme of things they’re not important. What’s important is that in years to come, when your child is grown up, they will have all of these beautiful memories to look back on as well as photographs to pass down to generations to come.”

After ten years working in the shipping industry in London, Reka taught herself photography and editing skills from watching YouTube videos and set up shop as a wedding and family photographer. But, after undergoing some specialist training, she now specialises in newborns and maternity – with the odd family shoot thrown in as well.