'I STILL KEEP IN TOUCH with my babies'

THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S ICONIC IMAGES SPARKED LIFELONG CONNECTIONS

Anne Geddes is perched on a ledge near the ceiling with her photographer's assistant, trying to make a tiny tot smile. Baby Philippa is surrounded by roses - carefully stripped of their thorns from her mother's beautiful garden.

Shutterbug, lights and camera are ready. All the shot needs is a gummy grin, but its eight-month-old subject is resolutely refusing to cooperate. Infants can be like that, even for the world's foremost newborn and child photographer.

As Anne fondly recalls, "I wish we had a video of me and my assistant, looking down at Philippa lying in her bed of roses, trying to get her to smile like our first meeting.

And then she did! "That image is still one of my all-time favourites." Of course, it's hard to settle on just one. There have been so many highlights in Anne's glittering career, which has spanned more than 35 years and taken her from Australia to New Zealand, Dubai, Italy, New York and points in between.

From her humble beginnings in a cobwebby garage studio, the endlessly creative mother of two has sold an estimated 31 million calendars and coffee table books, with her work translated into at least 23 languages.