The first family portrait we took dates back to 2012, before I moved to Australia for four years. At that point in time it was only the immediate family, but as we grew and time progressed the family enlarged to include my sister’s husband, their new-born and my beloved partner, who was only visiting for a short period from Germany.

My mum was excited and asked me lots of questions about what she should wear. I told her to wear a semi-formal, classy outfit. Knowing her, of course, she bought new clothes for the occasion. My sister, on the other hand, was quite easy and quick, but worried about what her husband should wear. I think men are easy. I told my sister and mum to put suits on their partners.

On the day of the shoot, we headed to the studio in Tokyo. My partner and I went along with my sister and her husband, and my parents went by themselves. My mum called me and told me they had arrived early so they had parked near a convenience store. When we arrived shortly after, we found them eating ice-cream sitting side by side in the car, smiling through the blurry car window. It looked very funny and my sister started laughing, which was only a short moment but marked the first step towards breaking the tension between my mum and her.

When the shoot started, everyone seemed a bit nervous. I was busy setting up the camera and lighting and the small studio’s atmosphere started to make everyone more and more comfortable. We began to decide and arrange where to stand and position ourselves and started to shoot. We took lots of photos, trying to get good, happy shots, and everyone enjoyed the process. We had enough time to take each couple individually, so I took photos of my parent, who had just turned over 50 and become grand-parents for the first time in their lives and my little sister who had got married and had a beautiful boy with her kind husband. The last photos I took were of me and my partner, who has shown me many new things and let me discover a new side of myself through him.