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Mamarazzi Catherine, 42, British mother to Reuben Jack and Callum Andreas living in LA.

The complete story and the blog that started it all through IVF, pregnancy and beyond
My photography website
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Photography blog
Reuben & Callum blog (launched 07)

Both boys were conceived through IVF, after 5 attempts and 6 years of infertility. Reuben is a walking, talking miracle who spent 5 months in intensive care and has undergone 17 surgeries including open heart at 3 months, a feeding tube placement for reflux, a tracheostomy (out in May 2010!) ear, throat and urology surgeries. He also happens to have CHARGE Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, which was discovered soon after birth as diagnosis upon diagnosis kept raining down on us, day after day til it all was pieced together with a blanket syndrome. Shortly after birth, he was wheeled away from me after I delivered by C-section and we remained in that grotesque state of separation not being able to take him home for much of the next 5 months. He was diagnosed as profoundly (ie nada) deaf at birth, but as with most things Reu related, that was not entirely the case and whilst moderately-severely deaf, he hears very well thank you very much with his bone conducting hearing aid! And the boy laps up sign language like there's no tomorrow. Within days, I was learning American Sign from books and DVDs and then struggling to keep up with the rate at which he wished to learn. One beautiful thing about sign is that despite his disabilities, Reuben could communicate colours, 1-10, the alphabet and 100s of other words by the time he was 2. Our days are peppered with early education, speech, physical, occupational and deaf therapy and of course taking lots of pics, but they're budding apprentices. Callum blue is his little rascal brother. The fun times are always about watching the boys together, foils to each other, studying each other's idiosyncrasies, gags and tantrums, being clearly proud of each other's achievements and helping one when the other is struggling. They shift like the sands between mentor and mentee, leader and follower as though their roles of big and little brother were interchangeable.

There were truly some amazing people whom we met along the way, brand new friends in CHARGE like the Persicos who would spend their date nights with us at the hospital and give us hope.

And then there's me. I've been an avid photographer all my life. And now I'm utterly obsessed. I owned cameras very early on and bought my first serious all manual SLR 23 years ago before travelling to SE Asia. My mind has always been full of it, the search for the elusive shot, the wanting to roll round on the ground, getting as low as I can for a new perspective. I can't help but see things through a frame. I can't stop my eyes from enlarging in awe and excitement when I see something beautiful or interesting. I can't help but strive, strive, strive to be better. I have a preference for low key photography which probably says something about my personality, but have been delving with the delicious light afforded by Southern California (SoCal), perfecting my backlit look and feel, often echoing the dry desert air in the images I make.

At university in the 80s, my walls were adorned with black & white headshots, gorgeous faces side by side staring back at me of what were then the earliest supermodels. Perhaps daunting for anyone else to look at with its voyeuristic appeal. I did some early modelling after a competition win, but realised my heart lay behind the camera rather than in front of it.

I love exploring shadows, macro, angles and perspectives, the technical aspects rather than what the computer can do afterwards. I have too many creative ideas running through my head to ever process and therein lies a dilemna. I'm heavily influenced by motion pictures, such masterpieces as Citizen Kane - watch it and marvel at its artistry. American History X (incredible photography and perspective). In Schindler's List, its use of spot colour. On the Waterfront. The Virgin Spring. I used to watch old movies back to back, day after day, year after year, and find I could never keep track of the plot. My mind was focusing too much on the cinematography.

In a sense I miss the old film SLR days when we worked mighty hard, maybe half an hour, and enjoyably, for each shot. The digital age makes it all the more disposable, but that said, all the more accessible. Traditionally I would prefer SOOC epiphanies that happen with my cameras, of which I have a closet full, but have now embraced the digital darkroom. My postgrad was in marketing and in time I'd like to put a few of those skills to good use in building a proper photography business beyond the low key business I now run.

In the last 20 years I've had the privilege of travelling to more than 50 countries on holiday, a passion born from my love of geography, my major at London University. From the Southern tip of Chile to Russia, a wealth of new experiences fed my unquenched thirst for travel photography. That is, until along came 2 little boys...

Visit my photos at Catherine Lacey Photography and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading (I'm definitely a better writer than speaker).