“She’s not the same girl you met in the summer, is she?” Mary Leigh posted to me. Indeed she is not. Nell has come forward in leaps and bounds. She is energetic, loving and full of personality. Watching her current family session vicariously through family instagram posts, I was extremely envious of their photographer. Nell was as open and active as her brothers, and that’s saying something! Part of me wishes I was there to capture that part of their […]
It’s been a while since my last update here, as there’s been a lot on the back-burner here. The constant stream of Nell updates that flows through my social media reminds me daily that I need to finish this story. So, here it is. Part 2 of meeting Nell in Seoul. I mentioned last time how much this assignment made me remember the importance of what I do as a photographer, and the second session was no different from the […]
There are few things that remind me that what I do as a photographer is important more than people’s reaction to the photographs I give them, to the story I have told for them. Mary Leigh reminded me of that time 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 […]
When we think about patience in photography, possibly the first thing that comes to mind is landscape photography; a lone photographer waiting hours for the perfect light. With digital photography, patience has been taken out of the process almost entirely, and more often than not a quick snap is all that is made of a scene. And often times this is enough, but when we are trying to make a longer lasting piece of art rather than a memory, patience […]
Last time, we met Ezra and his parents Ester and Dan. Ester and Dan are one of the few couples lucky enough to be able to stay in Korea during the entire adoption process, and get to know their son as well as the system allows. As we saw last time, Ezra bonded quickly with them and was more than happy to assist in their moving process. Dan’s fun-loving nature, and Ester’s outpouring of love gave him a very easy […]
My time with the Andersons started back in June when they first came to Korea to meet their son, Ezra Sihu. He would be their first adoption; their first child. As with most adoptions recently, the wait had been long and Dan and Ester were ready to take their little boy home. As we would come to see, he was ready for them as well. Over lunch, they played, hugged and fed each other. Ezra drove his toys through his […]
I had the pleasure of spending the day with Leah and Preston back in May before they left Korea this time around. After a couple of years give-or-take on their tour of the peninsula, they were regretfully finished with their time here, and wanted to capture some photographs of themselves that would remind them of it. We chatted over coffee and came up with a style that would work for an already married couple; one that would not include standing […]
Here is one final morning with Tobin and his family to complete the first chapter in the story of this new family. As we saw last time, Knox and Tobin could not have been happier to meet each other at Tobin’s adoption takeover. They hugged, they blew bubbles, and they snuggled on the couch together. All that in between Tobin’s running, by far his favourite thing to do. It was around 10:30am when we met up to get started. Knox […]
Here we are, back with Tobin and his family. Just around a month had passed when Anna-Marie and Brian got back in touch with me. A lot of exclamation marks and capital letters surrounded the important information that their travel call had been received, and this time they would be bringing their first son, Knox, to help take his little brother home. Knox had nothing but sparkles in his eyes when he shook my hand the morning of the meeting, […]
I met Anna-Marie and Brian just a few hours after they landed in Seoul, the birth country of their first son (who I did not get to meet this time around). This time, they were in Korea to meet their second son, Tobin, for the first time. That meeting was less than 14 hours away, and I was honored to meet this wonderful couple and welcome them to Korea. We talked over a bossam dinner, and I learned of the […]