Mum who left job wins national photography award

A woman who left her job to care for her newborn son after he was diagnosed with a rare condition has won an award for her wedding photography business.

Georgia Anne, from Wolverhampton, left her job at a local engineering company during maternity leave after her son was diagnosed with craniosynostosis, where a baby's skull does not grow properly and their head becomes an unusual shape.

Despite having no studio, she decided to start her own business, Georgia Anne Photography, and began travelling across the UK to photograph weddings.

She said it felt "incredibly surreal" to win Photography and Videography Studio of the Year at this year's Business Awards UK.

"I didn't begin with a huge investment, industry connections or some big plan to build an award-winning photography business," she added.

"I was a mum who needed to find a way of working that meant I could still be there for my son during a really uncertain time in our lives."

Now a mum-of-two, Anne said weddings had helped her to "build something of my own" and had also allowed her to raise her daughter alongside it too.

"There have been a lot of late nights editing after the children have gone to bed, weekends spent travelling around the country and an enormous amount of work behind the scenes, so receiving an award like this means a lot to me," she added.

"I'm also incredibly grateful to every couple who has trusted me with their wedding day. The business quite literally wouldn't exist without them."

She said hoped her story demonstrated that creative businesses do not necessarily begin with perfect circumstances.

"I'm really proud that something which started because my family needed me at home has turned into a career that I genuinely love," she added.

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