Aisha Cole was just 9 years old when her father, Jerome Cole, let her photograph a wedding with him. When he checked her shots after the event, Mr. Cole’s jaw hit the floor. The images turned out to be an incredible collection of touching moments shared between the bride, groom, and guests.
“I knew she was good, and she has a good eye. And on the actual day, I could see her really trying to find the photo. Just by looking at her, I could see she was hungry to capture the moment,” the professional from Melbourne, Australia, told The Epoch Times. “But when I saw the photos, I actually couldn’t believe it. My wife was amazed.”
Mr. Cole says that rather than explicitly teaching his “very creative” daughter, he showed her a few little tricks before shooting. The young tech-wiz has also been making her own movies on a family iPad “for quite a few years now.”
“My dad taught me how to take a photo, how to focus, how to hold the camera and frame with the subject,” Aisha said. “It’s so fun to be able to take photos—it’s like art.”
Mr. Cole fell into photography while teaching at a school for children with intellectual disabilities, incorporating art and film into his lessons.
Once, when doing some commercial work shooting a charity event at a church, his daughter came along and wound up taking photos of the choir. Aisha did an amazing job, her father says, and one of her images was chosen for publishing in the charity’s annual report.
After that, the budding photographer kept asking her dad to take her with him to work.
“I kept saying, ‘When you’re 13 or 14, you can work for me,’” Mr. Cole said.
When a client said she’d love a photo of her dress from behind as she walked down the aisle, Mr. Cole realized he’d need a second shooter to capture that special moment—and it suddenly hit him that Aisha could do it. He discussed it with his wife, Judith Cole, and they decided their daughter had the ability even though she was only 9.
Aisha is “very extroverted and outgoing” and loves being around people according to Mr. Cole, which helped on the big day.
He said: “The bride is also a family photographer, and she has two kids, so she kind of got it. I just said, ‘Look, my daughter’s only nearly 10, but she’s actually a very good photographer, and are you willing to let her come along?’ And she’s like, ‘Absolutely. Go for it.’”
The ceremony took place on Feb. 25, and Aisha loved every minute—especially capturing people’s expressions. One such moment came when a grandma was trying to give her grandchild some water but ended up spilling it down her dress.
“I took a photo when the water was in midair. So funny,” Aisha said, acknowledging the impromptu moments of humor that take place at such events.
Her father said: “She’s noticing what’s interesting, and her timings capture expressions at just the right moment. For the first kiss, Aisha only took one photo. Normally I'll take five, but she took one and nailed the exact right moment.”
When Mr. Cole delivered the “tasters,” the first incomplete set of around 80 photos, the couple absolutely loved them, Mr. Cole said, adding, “They’re a mixture of my photos and Aisha’s and they don’t know who took which; I don’t think they can tell.”
“I thought there’d be some interest, but I wasn’t expecting it to go so viral,” the proud dad said. “The response has been amazing, and I think everyone’s been really surprised.
Watch the video:
One aspect Aisha is thrilled about—besides her schoolfriends having seen the video—are the comments from people in America saying if she’s ever in the States, she could shoot their families or their weddings.
“It’s really exciting because I love America,” she said.
For his part, Mr. Cole is full of joy at seeing how much his daughter enjoyed the work, and how doing the work itself was the reward.
“She really relished the opportunity on the day, and she worked hard. It was definitely a career highlight to have Aisha accompany me on a wedding,” he said, adding that though he is keen to take his daughter along to another wedding, it’s important to just let her be a kid and take her time growing up.
“It has to be the right wedding and the right timing in terms of where Aisha is up to and our family life. Aisha is a bit annoyed by that,” he said.
His daughter agrees.
