Cover
Stories
It started with two iPhone photos of my kids.
And, as these things tend to do around here, one tiny idea turned into a fairly significant creative rabbit hole.
One photo.
One idea.
Then this.
After having Rosie and Tom, my creative brain seemed to kick into a completely different gear.
Like every parent, my camera roll was suddenly full of thousands of photographs - tiny expressions, favourite outfits, funny phases, ordinary afternoons and those little moments you somehow already know you'll want to remember forever.
One day I was looking at photos I'd taken of the kids on my iPhone. I loved the photographs exactly as they were, but I wanted to tell the story around them.
Not simply what they looked like in that moment, but who they were. Their personalities. Their quirks. What they loved. What made us laugh. The details of that particular little chapter that would eventually change.
So, with no intention whatsoever of starting a business and quite a lot of creative liberty, I started playing.
I extended the styling, shifted colours, added graphics, created editorial headlines and built a whole visual story around those photographs - while keeping the most important part completely at the centre of it all: them.
The covers somehow captured who they were.
I printed them, framed them and put them above their beds. And honestly, I thought that was probably the end of it.
Then some friends came over, saw the prints and essentially said, "What the hell are these? You have to do this."
Which, as it turns out, was a fairly effective business consultation.
Your photo doesn't need to already look like the cover.
That's my job.
Sometimes the photograph is the moment.
Sometimes it's just the beginning.
There isn't one formula for a Cover Story because there isn't one formula for the person in it.
The photograph is the moment.
Sometimes the original photograph already holds everything I need.
The expression, the clothes, the setting and the moment itself stay at the heart of the artwork. I build the editorial world around them through typography, colour, illustration, headlines and all those tiny details that make the memory unmistakably yours.
A first Easter. A birthday. An obsession with scooters. That exact phase where they laughed with their whole face.
Little time capsules of the things you didn't realise you might one day forget.
The photograph is just the beginning.
And then there are the ones where I disappear properly down the rabbit hole.
You might send me a simple photograph taken on your phone and I can create an entirely new world around the person in it.
The clothes may not be the clothes they were wearing. The backdrop may never have existed. The props, styling, flowers, colour palette and entire set can be imagined and designed from scratch.
Your photograph remains the anchor. Everything around it is created specifically for them.
Nothing comes from a template. Nothing is duplicated. Once that world is made, it's theirs.
Different kids.
Completely different worlds.
A tiny firefighter doesn't need to arrive wearing a firefighter uniform. A dancer doesn't need the perfect ballet studio. A child who lives inside books doesn't need to already be sitting in the set you imagined.
Tell me who they are and what they love. I'll take it from there.
Your world can be anything.
Sweet and whimsical. Bold and funny. Cinematic. Nostalgic. Completely over the top.
The visual direction changes with every person because the starting point isn't a pre-made set or a house template. It's their story.
And sometimes that means turning two ordinary kids into the next generation of Team Fulton on a race track at sunset.
The storytelling.
I've had the privilege of creating Cover Stories for babies, birthdays, milestone celebrations, sport-obsessed kids, creative kids, much-loved coaches, quiet achievers, big personalities and little people with enormous plans.
Some hold little threads of who they might become.
I love hearing the funny details, the obsessions, the personality traits, the family jokes and the things they're known and loved for.
Those details become the headlines, little cover lines, visual references and tiny surprises throughout the finished piece.
That's what makes it theirs.
A time capsule of a personality.
Birthdays are one of my favourite reasons to make these - not because anyone needs another piece of birthday decor, but because there is something wonderful about recording exactly who a child was at three, five, ten or sixteen.
The scooter they rode everywhere. The food they would happily have survived on exclusively. The song they played until everyone else quietly lost their minds. The words they mispronounced. The sport they loved. The thing they were absolutely certain they would be when they grew up.
The ordinary details are often the ones that become precious.
Then it becomes something you keep.
That's the full-circle part I still love.
Something can begin as a completely ordinary photograph sitting in your phone and end as an original piece of artwork, printed and framed in your home.
That's what happened with the first covers I made for Rosie and Tom.
And somehow, all these rabbit holes later, that's still the bit that matters.
You provide the photo.
I'll create the world.
Your photograph does not need to be professionally styled. You don't need the perfect backdrop, the right clothes or an elaborate photoshoot.
Send me the person, the photograph and the things that make them unmistakably them.
Then give me a little creative liberty and let me disappear down the rabbit hole.
Start your Cover Story