Happy New Year, everyone! In this first post of the year, we’ll take a look at a winter family photography session with the Hirashiki tribe from back in December. As I write this, the Han River is frozen and the temperature is well below zero. Thankfully for this session, the cold hadn’t truly settled in yet and we had quite a nice day with a high of 9°C. Coupled with the beautiful soft light from an overcast sky, it was the perfect conditions for family photos.
Jen and Hiro arrived a few minutes early for our session, but the little man was still asleep. I’m always wary of waking toddlers up from a nap as you never really know which way things might go. Jen and Hiro assured me he’d always woken up in a good mood from naps, but I still thought it would be better to get to our first location before stirring him. So, we took a short stroll through the palace and found our first background.
Waking HanWool up went just as well as his parents described. He woke up with a little smile and stood up right away. Being that we were the only people in the area, he was instantly fixated on the new addition. He looked at me with a bit of confusion on his face that said, “You weren’t there when I went to sleep!” We said ‘hello’ and when I thought the time was right, I made a quick image to show him (and to remember that little confused face!). When I turned the camera around he gave the “oh” of surprise and we joked about how he got inside the camera. We were on. Things would go really well this day.
Since HanWool was asleep when we first arrived, we’d managed to walk all the way around to one of my favourite mini locations before he woke up. This meant we could get going right away. Jen scooped him up and we quickly made a family portrait. It’s always good to get these out of the way while you have a good mood, because those don’t always last! To vary it up a little we played some peek-a-boo and gave HanWool a tickle.
Then our little man wanted to go for a walk, so I had everyone join hands and we walked back and forth through a gate. It was then we discovered HanWool’s love for a swing, or generally just being in the air. After the first time, it was really all he wanted to do. So, we played with that for a while and got some great images of his ecstatic smile.
By this stage, HanWool had decided he’d rather have dad hug him, but we managed to get a quick frame of him holding his mother’s hands before he squirmed free and discovered his next love, a small flight of stairs. Between several ascend/descend sets, we nagged HanWool for a couple more jumps and aeroplanes before switching it up to our final location.
HanWool had worn himself out with all this running and jumping and was just about ready to finish up the session. With a couple more laps of another courtyard, a little more peek-a-boo, and a quick air-toss, we were done. HanWool was back in the stroller and struggling to keep his eyes open again before we even reached the gate.
A big thanks again to Jen and Hiro for bringing me out at this time. To have your own family photographed in Seoul, or anywhere else in Korea, please reach out. If you’d like to see more family fun, you can also follow me on Instagram and like my Facebook page. Until next time, stay happy and healthy!
