There is something distinct about the relationship between a father and his child.
It begins before words.
In the quiet weight of a newborn held close.
In the lift of a small body learning trust.
In moments of play, protection, encouragement and affection.
Then the years move.
Children grow taller.
Conversations change.
Guidance replaces instruction.
The bond remains.
This portfolio is a study of that relationship as I see it.
These father & child portraits follow the bond across the years — from early childhood to adulthood — and the ways it changes as children become more independent.
Some images are playful.
Some are quiet.
Some are chaotic.
Some are simply two people who know one another very well.
There is something else I notice in this work.
Fathers are often there for the ordinary years — carrying, teaching, fixing, encouraging, watching from the side — and yet they can be surprisingly absent from the photographs of them.
That makes these portraits matter differently with time.
They are not only a record of the child who grew.
They are a record of the father who was there while it happened.
Growing older does not end the bond.
It reveals it differently.
JOHANNESBURG PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
One Moment. One Portrait. Forever
© 2005–2026 Bridget Corke Photography
Blairgowrie · Johannesburg · South Africa
International Master's in Portrait Photography
One of only two in Africa.