Photography: Dave Young captures the agony and ecstasy of a set of new dads

When it comes to bringing babies into the world, the mother’s role is pretty well-defined. But new dads can find themselves playing any number of roles, from nervously pacing the corridor to helping out at the bedside. Photographer Dave Young has captured this uncertainty perfectly with a new series commissioned by The Book of Everyone to mark Fathers’ Day next month. Shot at the Chelsea & Westminster hospital during April, Dave has done a brilliant job capturing the anticipation and the elation, the nerves, the anxiety and even the exact moment when these men realise their worlds have just been turned upside down.

The fact we never see either mother or baby only adds to the pictures’ potency.