Meet the photographer capturing our lockdown 2020 babies

Melanie Armstrong has specialised in newborn photography for 15 years and like many others, was forced to close her business when COVID-19 hit.

Following government guidelines, Melanie was able to open her studio last week and has shared her images of our region’s beautiful lockdown babies with High Life North. 

She said: “I have had families in the studio that have had their babies during lockdown and their stories are incredible. I’ve followed government guidelines but have also gone above and beyond with PPE to keep these families, especially the babies safe. By wearing the full PPE I am able to handle the babies briefly with the parents social distancing. I feel blessed but guilty at the same time that I have held some of these babies before grandparents.

“It’s been a very emotional two weeks with a lot of preparation and expense. I am proud that I have been able to work with these precious lockdown babies to create beautiful memories for their families to treasure forever.

“I have captured images of me with each baby for their records but also for mine. I have never had to work like this before and they are powerful images that we will all be able to look back on.”

Melanie co-founded Photography for Little People with her mum, Jan Massey before they franchised the company in 2008. Melanie runs the Durham studio. 

To see more of the lockdown babies, visit Melanie’s Facebook page.