Today’s shoot one of those sessions where there wasn’t a dull moment. We had smiles, tears, hunger, running, tenderness, and a mass collection of pine cones, but let’s start from the beginning. Niko and Jacklin had reached out to have a post-custody family photo shoot before heading home after their adoption. We scheduled an early morning session at Gyeongbokgung to avoid the crowds. That happened to coincide with a national holiday here (Hangeul Day), which I usually avoid as much […]
Today’s session is a blow-by-blow deep-dive into a fairly common type of post-custody session with one of my adoptive families. Oftentimes so soon after custody, kids aren’t ready to open up to a stranger and a different approach is required. The last thing we want to do is force our wants onto a little one who has been through a life-changing event, so another angle is required. I hope you enjoy this fun session with the Martin family. We all […]
Today’s story will be a little bit different. It has been five years in the making; a journey of laughter and tears that has spanned three adoptions and countless hours together getting to know each other. We’ve shared the ups and downs of the building of the Anderson family and I have been allowed into the most private times of their lives to make images for the family to remember these moments by. Throughout this time, we’ve formed a friendship […]
As followers of this blog will know, a large part of my work is family photography with those who have newly adopted children. I work frequently in the agencies as custody is taken and shortly afterwards for family sessions and Day in the Life sessions. These are all wonderfully emotional sessions and I bear witness to every aspect of human emotion while photographing them. There is nothing quite like that rollercoaster! This family session with the Ashcrafts is slightly […]
I don’t often get family photography sessions during the Chuseok time as that’s when Korea simply shuts its doors (except for the shopping districts, of course) and says “We’re done for a few days.” Locals take some coveted days off, expats head home for a while, and tourism is down a little because everything is closed. China, however, outdoes this by having an even longer mid-Autumn Festival that shuts the entire country down as well. This year, the Ataalla family […]
Milo and his parents were back visiting Korea from France for his first birthday party. Before their family gathering, we decided to make some family portraits to memorialise their visit back to Seoul. These would be of just the immediate family. Being autumn, it was the perfect time to get out into Seoul and enjoy the warm weather for an afternoon. Milo was a happy and active little man with all the energy needed to get some great active pictures with […]
Last year, the Sarracino family visited Seoul to complete the adoption process for their first son, Jaden. During this time, we did two sessions together. First, we spent a couple of hours together to document the process of taking custody. Then, a few short days later, we got together again to have a family portrait session under the autumn leaves. We arrived at the agency to meet Jaden with his foster family for the last time before Jamie and John […]
The Stelzer family reached out just a couple of weeks before autumn was about to get into full swing. They were looking to have a hanbok family photo session and wanted to incorporate Korea’s traditional architecture and some of the autumn leaves. Autumn was a little unpredictable this year, but we got lucky with some beautiful colours and a cloudy day to accentuate them. Starting under the autumn canopy, we spent some time playing in the leaves and giving Alexander […]
When Janelle reached out to me, I was waiting for a train from Itanagar to Guwahati in India at the end of a trip for my Tattoos of Asia project. It was an unplanned early exit, as we found out that rebel groups would be closing the roads out of Arunachal Pradesh and if we wanted to leave we should do it now. So, I was quite excited to get some good news in my inbox as I was sitting […]
How special is a trip to a foreign land with your mother? Jepsen is a lucky little man, that’s for sure. Elyzabeth and he visited Seoul together last November and we set out for a family photography session together during their visit. As they were visiting during autumn, we decided to make the most of something they don’t get back home, autumn leaves. We booked on a morning session that would include both the leaves and some Korean architecture and […]