Sofa portraits by Colin Pantall

Pantall’s latest book returns to his daughter’s childhood, presenting emotive images from a time of comfort and rest
In 1999, Colin Pantall and his wife were living in Asia. The pair, him a photographer and her a writer, travelled often for their work, covering stories of heritage and the environment. Then, in the year 2000, their daughter Isabel was born; her arrival changed everything.

“There was this intensity of coming home with a baby. You’ve had no training for it,” Pantall recalls. “As I was looking after her, holding her, co-caring, I would take my camera with me. I was photographing inside the home and, at that time, we had that sofa.”

Text by PHILIPPA KELLY