Last week I photographed the farewell of a woman who wanted a party. She was survived by her husband and their two adult sons.

Before the proceedings kicked off I photographed the two sons on the balcony but around 4pm I needed to go but wanted to take a family portrait – but how? The light on the balcony was too harsh and I didn’t want the conventional family shot.

Earlier in the day Lily, the girl friend of one of the sons, had done some karaoke with Scott, the pianist, and I recalled from listening to the tributes that Scott was a family friend and Janine wanted a celebration. So I asked Lily if she thought Tim would be up for some singing with his sons and she agreed so she organised the sons and Tim while I had a chat with Scott.

What I never expected was the whole room joining in. Sometimes magic happens. At funerals I pride myself on working invisibly and never constructing imagery but a wake is a different kettle of fish and I like to think having the whole room sing along with her family would have been exactly what Janine would have wanted.