Holly Spring’s Daughter Her Muse for Award-Winning Photos

Photography was the furthest thing from Holly Spring’s mind when daughter Violet was struck down with a debilitating bowel condition that almost cost her life.

Born with just one hand, her right, the new born “went blue in the face” following surgical complications to correct a bowel condition known as Hirschprung’s disease.

Clinging to life in an Auckland Hospital, it was at that this point her mother realised just how incredibly important her daughter’s fragile life was to her, so she began documenting it using digital photography.

“I’ve always been an artist, I’m in a rock band, but digital photography didn’t come until after that close call,” the 38-year-old award winning photographer said.

Combined with an inability to use her left arm, Spring wanted to show through her work that the person she describes as her “muse” and her “heart” was capable of living a normal, everyday childhood.

She said Violet was the reason she decided to dedicate a life to her new career, which she is now an award winner after claiming the 2014 New Zealand Portrait Creative Photographer of the Year.

Original article by Daniel Mills, Daily Mail, August 23, 2014.

Photo by Holly Spring.