I love travel photography, and couples photography, and food photography (even the part after the photography…). But, adoption photography is still my favourite of all the things I’m blessed to do in this business. These stories sing to me in a way that no others do, and I am truly grateful for each and every family that allows me into their lives during these moments. With the change of adoption laws, and the lengthening of the process, it has been some time since I have been able to post, but I am thrilled today to be able to share the story of a young boy named Davis.
I was woken up at 7:59 by the beeping of my phone. Obviously, I’d forgotten to silence it before going to bed, and it’s modern version of “you’ve got mail” begged me over to check that mail. The moment I opened it, I sat straight up. It had been so long since I had an enquiry for adoption photography, and I wasn’t expecting it at all. 67 days, 88 emails, 3 shoots, and countless hours of editing, meeting and several high-fives with a two year old later, I am finally able to share this with you.
I first met Lori and Steve shortly after their arrival in Seoul, and despite the jetlag, they were palpably excited to be here and meeting their son, Davis. With the process taking approximately 2 years now, Lori and Steve had been through a lot, and had a lot of stories for me over a cup of tea. We talked of the adoption, among other things, including our mutual love for travel and culture before parting ways for the evening. I had made friends, and met wonderful parents that night.
We met again at Holt Children’s Services the following morning for their first meeting, and while we waited a little boy in a blue hooded jacket and a scarf wrapped up to his eyes walked straight up to Steve and stared him in the face before getting in the lift. Even through all the layers, his eyes stared up and we knew exactly who was behind that scarf. It would be 35 minutes later that those same eyes would peer between the gap in the door to see the loving smiles of both his parents for the first time.
A few tentative smiles, high fives, and hand holdings were allowed at first. But Davis soon warmed whole-heartedly to his new parents. And when he did, the tentative touches, little smiles, and searches for reassurance quickly became loving hugs, kisses, and playing in the laps of Lori and Steve. We quickly discovered his love for a very large soft ball, and throwing it all over the room – including at the camera, which he found to be utterly hillarious. His desire to play with his new parents really came through when he pulled their hands over to play the keyboard with him.
Three hours later we parted ways. The first meeting was over.
[…] also check back on part 1 of this […]
[…] at what I saw. Amanda had seen some adoption photos I’d done recently of a little boy named Davis, and was coming to meet her own son Elias in a couple of weeks. She poured her heart out in that […]
[…] and time again, even before we met here in Seoul. I first worked with some good friends of hers, Lori and Steve, back in January of this year. Before Lori and Steve had even left Korea, Mary Leigh had been in […]