MEET the crime fighting mum who hung up her police uniform to start her own photography business.

Jo Bishop, 38, worked for Greater Manchester Police for 12 years, leaving the force in November to focus on her firm.

The mum-of-one juggled her passion for photography alongside her role for years, before packing up her hobby after the birth of her daughter in 2017.

She said: "I as doing photography alongside the police for about five years before I had my little girl and I gave it up because I couldn't keep spinning all the plates I had on the go.

"But as time went on I realised that my mindset had changed and I wanted to be in a safer role, one that I'm passionate about, and decided to put myself fully into my passion.

"I took the plunge in November and it just went from strength to strength, I was quite shocked at how well it was doing, and then covid hit."

Mrs Bishop transformed a summer house in the garden of her home off Belmont Road into a studio, and was working on weddings, baby shoots, and a variety of other jobs when lockdown ground her business to a halt.

With work cancelled, she was overjoyed to hear the government's plans to support self-employed people.

Unfortunately, she was unable to access any financial assistance under the scheme because her venture was so new, and became desperate to get back behind the lens.

She said: "I was on my backside financially, after giving up photography I obviously didn't make any earning from it so I didn't file a tax return, meaning I didn't qualify for support.

"Some amazing clients paid for up-front vouchers for photoshoots in the future which helped, but we had to rely on my husband's income and savings.

"Once things started easing up I though about doing these shoots – people are having babies all the time and they want to capture the moments when they're so tiny and I didn't need to use the studio to do that."

Now, Mrs Bishop is using her experience to direct parents on how to pose their new babies to capture professional shots of their new arrivals in the safety of their own gardens.

The feedback to her new venture has been overwhelming, and she has found herself back in the swing of things.

All equipment is disinfected before use, and she keeps her distance from the family by using a long lens to capture pictures of the new arrivals.

For more details on prices and availability, visit the Jo Bishop Photography Facebook page.