Jerome Cole took his daughter Aisha Cole, who was only 9 years old, to shoot a wedding with him. Afterward, when Jerome looked at the photos his daughter had taken, he was amazed by the fleeting moments of warmth and interaction she had captured between the bride, groom, and guests from her unique perspective.
“I knew she had a talent for photography, her eye for detail is incredible. On the day of the shoot, I could see her diligently searching for every precious moment,” the professional photographer from Melbourne, Australia, told The Epoch Times. “But when I saw the photos, I was still incredulous. My wife was equally amazed.”
Jerome mentioned that he had never explicitly taught his daughter how to take photographs in detail, just shared a few tips before the shoot. The young tech prodigy had been experimenting with filming on the family’s iPad “for years.”
“My dad taught me how to take photos, how to focus, how to hold the camera, and how to compose a shot,” Aisha said. “Taking photos is so much fun, it’s like an art form.”
Jerome developed his passion for photography while teaching at a school for intellectually disabled children and gradually incorporated art and film into his curriculum.
One day, while shooting commercial photos for a charity event at a church, his daughter happened to be there and took a few photos of the choir. This father noted that Aisha’s performance was excellent, and one of her photos was selected and featured in the charity organization’s annual report.
Since then, the budding photographer had been persistently asking her father to take her along to work.
“I always said, ‘When you’re around 13 or 14, you can be my assistant,'” Jerome said.
One day, when a client expressed a desire for a shot of someone walking down the red carpet from behind, Jerome realized he needed another photographer to capture this special moment and thought of Aisha. After consulting with his wife Judith, they both agreed that their daughter had the ability, even though she was only 9 years old.
According to Jerome, Aisha is “very outgoing and cheerful,” enjoys interacting with people, which helped her adapt quickly to significant events like weddings.
He said, “The bride was also a family photographer with two kids, so she was more open to my suggestion. I said, ‘Despite my daughter being around 10 years old, she’s actually a very talented photographer. Would you allow her to work with me on photographing your event?’ She agreed.”
The wedding took place on February 25th this year, and Aisha enjoyed every minute of it, especially capturing people’s expressions. She noticed a grandma accidentally spilling water on her granddaughter while trying to feed her from a bottle.
“I captured the moment the water was spilling down, it was really amusing,” Aisha said. Such unexpected moments of humor often arise at such occasions.
“She consistently observed interesting scenes during the process, capturing the most genuine and moving expressions of people at the most appropriate moments. During the crucial part when the couple shared a sweet kiss, Aisha took just one photo. While I usually take five, she, with just one shot, captured the most perfect moment,” her father remarked.
After the wedding, Jerome initially handed over around 80 of the photos they took to the couple to review, and they were very pleased with them. “These photos were a mix of mine and Aisha’s shots, but they couldn’t tell who took which,” Jerome said.
Later, Jerome compiled a video of Aisha’s busy presence that day and some of the photos she took, sharing it on their Instagram page. Unexpectedly, this sweet video quickly went viral online, garnering over 1.68 million likes so far.
“I expected some interest, but I never thought it would be this popular,” this proud father remarked. “The response has been overwhelming, I think everyone was quite surprised.”
“Aisha’s grasp of the camera and her posture while taking photos is not much different from that of experienced professionals. Moreover, I’m tall, and she’s noticeably shorter, so my photos are mostly taken from above, while hers are shot from a lower angle, which has inadvertently become her unique style of photography that people really love.”