During the pandemic, I had the pleasure of working with the Michas family directly after they took custody of their son, Nolan. We had a wonderful session that culminated in us playing with pinecones for quite some time and Nolan taking me for a walk through Changdeokgung like he owned the place.
When I got an email saying they’d be back in Seoul for a short time, I changed a flight back from working with another client so I could squeeze them in. With most of my families coming to visit from overseas, it’s always a pleasure to see a family again down the line.
Last time I worked with this family, it was a comfortable autumn morning. This time it was in the thick of summer. We were on the tail end of the storm from Jason’s post and it was still raining as I made my way to the park to meet them. Once again, we got lucky and the moment they stepped out of the taxi, the rain stopped!
We kicked things off simply by having Nolan lead everyone into the park down a winding path and then swung things into high gear as we’d only have 40 minutes together before they had to leave for their flight.
We’d chosen North Seoul Dream Forest as our location because of the hanok they have and the relative variety of summer greens there when compared to other parks in Seoul. With the overcast skies, we could shoot in any direction. This was great since we didn’t have a lot of time. While golden hour can be lovely at times, it does limit us in some ways and I’m always happy to see clouds at a shoot.
Keeping Nolan interested for this shoot was a very different game than last time. He’d grown into an intelligent little man who needed a little more than just pine cones to keep him on our team this time. So, we split the shoot up between traditional portraits, walks, runs, shoulder rides, and sending leaf-boats down the stream in the park. Before we knew it, though, our time was up and we had to part ways so they could fly to Okinawa!
Thanks again to the wonderful Michas family. It was great to see you guys again and I hope we can do it again soon! For all of you reading, please reach out to enquire about having your own family photographed in Seoul or anywhere else in Korea! And, of course, follow my Instagram for additional photo updates.