It’s winter time again here in Seoul, and that means chilly temperatures and beautiful light. The Mangahas family and I got together for a winter family photography session just after they took custody of their daughter, Ren.
Ren was a little nervous around new people. Although she’d got used to being around her family, she was wary of me in the beginning. For the first ten minutes of our session, I got the I’m-not-quite-sure-about-you look from Ren. I made a quick shot so I would never forget it. It still makes me smile!
With that out of the way, and a few fun shots together, I was able to draw Ren out and get her to trust me for the rest of our session. Her brother, Logan, was another story. He had plenty of things to share with me and was a great advocate for getting Ren to come out of her shell a little.
With the winter temperatures dropping suddenly on the day of our shoot, the palace was all but empty. So we were able to start with a beautiful panorama of one of the main buildings to get us going. Following this, I wanted to warm both the kids up, so I snagged a closeup of Ren with dad (she was still very attached to him) and Logan with mum (still waiting for Ren to warm up to mum).
We decided to make a couple of shots where Ren wouldn’t have to be aware of me in order to get her interested in our session. I love this frame of Logan being the one to catch her on the way down. At this point, Ren had started to open up, but she was still very clingy to her dad. I knew I wanted to get a shot of her with her mother, but that it would take some time.
So, we quickly got a closeup portrait of each of the kids and a shot of Ren with dad. Then we sat everyone down for a little play time. Logan thought it would be fun to blow some wind across Ren’s face and she pulled the cutest this-is-fun-but-slightly-uncomfortable face I’ve seen for a while.
Working our way back to the entrance of the palace, we made a couple of stops to get some different architecture in our images. In this shot, we see Ren’s cute little smile as she starts to forget the cold.
Finally, we stopped to do a family walking shot. After watching her brother have plenty of fun, Ren opened up and wanted to copy him. So we talk her for a walk and give her a swing as well. She loved this but quickly wanted to go back up with dad. As a final shot, we decided to pass Ren to mum and see how she would react. With her spirits high, we managed to get a couple of quick shots with mum to wrap up the session.
I had a wonderful time with the Mangahas family and would like to thank them again for joining me in the cold of winter. Join me again soon for some more family fun!
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