Slow down, Smile, and Enjoy more~!

Yellowhale painting by nanacnese

It is such a special day today.. not only because I am a mom myself, but also I have a mom who is one of the strongest women I know. She had her mom but lost her when she was eight years old during Korean War. My mother grew up raising her little brother and herself in a little town in Pusan, Korea. Once she told me the one wish she had as a child was to call someone "mom". I can not even imagine how one could grow without a mom. As I raise my boys, many moments reminded me of my childhood and how amazing my mom was to me. I wonder how she learned to be that outstanding mother she was who she never had in her life. She promised me that she would be there for me when I am down or disappointed and she kept her promise. Until this day, she is my best friend, my counselor, and my biggest fan!

My mom would convince me to wear the dirty shirt one more day to save a load of laundry by saying I looked really cute in the yellow (pic on the left), and I was confused as you can see in my sad face. ^^ The other two pictures are about my mom's leather jacket. I (pic on the right) am wearing the very jacket that she wore (center pic)  when I graduated from Kindergarten (ha! - we had that graduation back then!). Can you tell that there is 40 years gap in between those pictures? These pictures and this beautiful now vintage leather jacket are so special to me and I will cherish them forever. The little girl on the left had a big dream and my mother taught, brought up, nurtured, and gave everything she could to support that little girl to become the woman on the right who still has a big dream. There were endless ups and downs, we shared laughs and tears, we celebrated every little things and prayed so many nights together. I had the best mother that I could ever hope... 

I know every one of you must have something even more special that remind you of your beautiful and wonderful mom. Tell her how much you appreciate her and what she had done for you and the family. And also love and enjoy your littles even more as they will remember every bit of your love dearly. Let's celebrate it today!

me (2) in dirty yellow shirt

with mom (kindergarten)

me wearing her jacket

On this special day, I hope that you will slow down, smile, and enjoy more

- xoxo, Kyung

Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment Yellowhale · Kwak Yoon Chan / 곽윤찬 Yellowhale ℗ 2014 Blueshrimp Released on: 2014-07-31 Producer: Blueshrimp Auto-generated by YouTube.

p.s. I would love to share one more story with you today. Right is what "Yellowhale" sounds like. Try it, it is really amazing. Yellowhale is written and played by the fabulous blue note Jazz pianist Kwak Yoon Chan who found and fell in love with my Yellowhale Story and gave this beautiful song to Yellowhale. There is an amazing story behind how he and I met, but will tell you more next time.

Happy Mother's Day

Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn't know you had, and dealing with fears you didn't know existed.

-Linda Wooten

I realize more and more about how amazing and fearless my mother was raising me as I raise my children myself. She was so strong and wise. She still teaches me how to love more and nurture deeper through her life. As a family portrait photographer, celebrating the greatness of motherhood became the pure focus of my passion.

Without her, I would not be able to understand how profound a mom's love could be. Without her, Yellowhale Photography would not even exist because the heart for motherhood is what grew my own. Happy Mother's Day to my very own mom and to all of you mamas out there.

Happy New Year!

Just returning to the studio from a wonderful and refreshing winter break. As a family portrait photographer, there is no time like January when I get to sit down and think quietly for as long as I need. After the craziness of fall / holiday season, it is a definitely necessary down time to recharge and plan the rest of the year. There are things to update on the website, travels to plan, appointments to schedule for the clients, goals to set personally and professionally, and many other projects to start.

Out of million things to do in the month, my favorite and first project of the year is to review the images of my recent years and selecting few to update the gallery. There are so many familiar little faces have grown so much since the first session. I was there when the baby was just born still in the beautiful round womb shape. I remember that the room was so warm and cosy that it did not feel like working at all for me. I remember how her tiny the little - almost transparent skin- toes were. And now that little baby talks to me about what's happening at her school! She offered me her snack to share during the session and I caught the moment in the video clip, because it was so precious. "Kyung, would you like some crackers?" Every time I see my clients' little ones, most of them I get to see every year, it makes me astonished by how fast and beautifully they grow. Every one of them feel like my own...

I am sure all of you feel the same way about your precious child(ren). With a blink of an eye, my baby is as tall as I am calling mom in his deep man voice. My little one is graduating elementary school this year! 

My photographer friend just shared this perfect video on facebook this morning and it made me cry. A parent has 936 weeks between a child’s birth and graduation.... And I thought I would post it as my first blog post in 2016. I hope this touches your heart as it did to me. 

While my mind is already chasing to catch all those ambitious missions, I want my 2016 resolution to be "Stay closer to your heart."  I hope I can help you not to miss the moments of your journey, too.