Jiaxing Shanghai, China. Newborn, Babies, Children and Family Portrait and Commercial Photographer
was so glad i got to meet this little guy during a trip to shanghai a couple weeks ago. love his baby chubbiness. and at less than 2 months old, i couldn’t get over all the subtle but different expressions he makes – especially with those lips! goodness, too cute.
little j – so nice to meet you. can’t wait to play with you again.
May 23, 2010 - 9:33 pm - so adorable that little j...amazing photos!
as i mentioned in my previous post, my girl recently turned four. so in honor of the occasion, we went out for a little photo shoot. we’ve been doing these little photo sessions everytime her birthday or half birthday comes around. and thankfully, it’s become an enjoyable activity for the both of us – a different little outing or adventure each time. to keep things interesting, we brought along a “prop” this time to give it a little fanciful touch.
originally, i was envisioning going to a field of yellow flowers, but sadly the flowers were all gone by the time we found time to do this. but instead we discovered this nearby park enchanted forest… a perfect area for a butterfly to explore.
later, sitting on a bridge, i loved catching her different expressions that capture her personality at this age.
part of me misses the cuddly toddler she used to be, but i am beginning to savor this little girlie stage she has grown into.
June 9, 2010 - 3:12 am - gorgeous photos! LOVE the sunflair photo and the one with hannah looking down in the flower field!!
a couple weeks ago, my little big one turned four! see what we did?
she was quite excited to try out her new blades, and i am sure that before i know it, she will be moving along faster and faster.
note: cake styling and hair styling both done by birthday girl.
second note: far right image is the standard “mug shot” my kids are now becoming accustomed to, where i photograph them with their age and the date written on an index card to commemorate the milestone.
third note: i am beginning to love www.taobao.com, which is where we ordered the blades and had it delivered to my door next day!
May 9, 2010 - 12:07 am - wow, she is no longer little any more. I love that blade.
May 8, 2010 - 6:49 am - oooh =) happy birthday hannah!
…and getting into everything! she’s been rolling around for a while now and is just starting to scoot. it’s so cute seeing her inch forward, stretch her legs straight and stick her butt up ever so slightly. but i think i may miss the immobile days. =)
May 8, 2010 - 6:49 am - love the leg warmers
May 7, 2010 - 1:12 pm - Can't wait to see the scooter and holding her. 11 more days ! Yep !
since coming to China, i have learned to make quite a few things from scratch. mainly out of necessity. “necessity”, as in i may have really been craving a certain sort of food and it just isn’t available, ready-made, processed and pre-packaged on your grocery store shelf. or it requires a trek into Shanghai and is quite pricey compared to the local fare (though at times it is just worth the splurge). it’s been quite mind-opening (and fun!) to learn how to make these things from scratch — and possibly more healthy, as well.
so here is my latest accomplishment in fresh goodness:
homemade yogurt and granola.
i was actually quite surprised and excited to see how easy it is to make both of these. all those years just buying it off the shelf – who knew it really is quite simple to make on your own. and it costs a lot less too!
this whole attempt to make yogurt evolved because Kaylah is at the age where yogurt is a good healthy part of her diet. but the yogurt available here is all very sweet and liquidy (you need a straw to drink it). no plain, whole milk, thickened yogurt. so i decided to try it on my own – followed directions from this book, but you can easily find directions online as well. then as i was reading about how healthy yogurt is, i felt like i should have some myself. and fresh homemade yogurt is not as tart, which is more to my liking. but then i thought it would go nice with granola. hmmm… another rare/nonexistent item to around here. a quick search on www.allrecipes.com and i whipped up a batch in no time. hannah loves the granola too – both making it and eating it!
i shared my accomplishments with another foreigner friend in China. found out she makes her own yogurt too. and she quickly explained how to make your own cottage cheese and sour cream as well! (variations on the yogurt recipe) i tried the sour cream recipe a few days ago and it worked as well! chicken paprikash and baked potatoes this week…
May 8, 2010 - 4:08 pm - haha. yes, me too. i think i'll go eat some granola now. Jay - Yes, I used store-bought yogurt as starter. Some of the nice plain, thickened stuff you generally only find at fancy expat grocery stores in Shanghai. =) But I have heard the sweet liquidy stuff will work too but I haven't tried it yet.
May 8, 2010 - 6:47 am - yay! beautiful picture! i'm so hungry
May 8, 2010 - 2:01 am - My family makes yogurt. Generally for starter cultures we use exisiting yogurt. I was wondering what you used, was it the sweetened stuff you bought in Shanghai?
in a previous post, i mentioned how wedding photography is quite different here compared to the US, and i promised to elaborate. so here we are.
wedding photography is not done on the actual day of your wedding, so it is not aimed at capturing the moments and the events of your wedding day, but instead focused just on the bridal couple themselves and making them look pretty. it is more like a model shoot. first, you play dress up – choosing from a large selection of wedding gowns that the photography studio has on hand. then you get your hair and makeup done. then you go out and pose! it often takes an entire day and a few wardrobe changes. it is generally less candid; more directed, formal posing.
on the weekends, the parks are filled with bridal couples striking a pose. quite picturesque here, don’t you think?
as we passed these different brides, i ended up being more interested in capturing the feet. not sure what looked more amusing – the choice of shoes or me going around trying to take pictures of them each time a bride raised her skirt to walk. there were a *lot* of red shoes hidden underneath the dresses, as i believe it is meant for luck. of course the gowns are long enough that the shoes don’t show up in the final photos, so really anything goes.
and how about that last pose and the use of props? =) it seems the groom does not look so thrilled.
finally, there were couples lined up to reenact a traditional chinese bridal processional as part of their portrait session. this includes the bride being carried in the bridal sedan chair as the groom walks along the side, the bride wearing a red veil, and being connected to each other with a red silk sash. as they do this, the photographers and videographers capture the moment and random bystanders watch… and then it’s on to the next groom waiting in line.
so which kind of wedding photography would you prefer?
April 23, 2010 - 11:44 pm - =) very nice shots! i didn't know they still did the red carriage thing anymore. very interesting. have you ever read this book "spring moon" it's really old, but anyhow there is a full description of the whole old style marriage process. if you're interested, i'll try to find it on some used book list. i think it's funny because the whole posed picture goes with the old style chinese pictures where everyone sits properly in chairs with their hands on their knees, no smiles. i'm sure one day they will all move to candid pictures too. i like a mix of both =)
i spent a lot of time last week in bed being sick and thus not useful for being able to do much else. but all that extra time just lying in bed inspired me to post these shots i took a few months ago during naptime. or it should’ve been naptime, but my girl decided she didn’t want to sleep. so instead i put her on my bed and clicked away at her cuteness.
as you can see, i love feet and photographing feet. and kaylah seems to have quite a fascination with her little piggies too… perhaps it is hereditary?
April 23, 2010 - 1:48 am - oh man she's SO cute!! i love that picture where she's looking at you. she looks curious, wondering what you're doing.
April 22, 2010 - 9:28 am - she is so precious!
April 21, 2010 - 9:39 am - she's so cute! :) i love the chubbiness...
April 20, 2010 - 9:40 am - She is ADORABLE!!!!
April 20, 2010 - 1:47 am - aww she has such cute chubby cheeks and little feet
Monday was a national holiday. So we took this rare vacation day to take a daytrip to Hangzhou – a city famous for its natural beauty. There is a Chinese saying that goes “上有天堂 下有苏杭“ Translated, it means that “Above there is Heaven, below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou”
So we went and soaked up this little bit of “heaven” – the tranquil West Lake 西湖, the tulips in bloom at Taiziwan Park 太子湾公园.
And at the same time, we saw and experienced those things that are only unique to still being in China.
1. Couples in cutie matchy matchy outfits
2. The 1.2 billion other people out enjoying nature with you
3. Group bridal shoots.
i may save more elaboration for another blog entry, but basically wedding photography in china is typically *not* done on your actual wedding day *nor* in your actual wedding gown. instead, the photography studio will provide hair, makeup, gown – and take you out for a day-long photoshoot – and you may have a few other engaged couples along for the ride.
4. And now the reason for my blog entry title.
first, walking around, i heard 20+ comments about kaylah as people passed by. i’d say 37% were cuteness-related, and 63% was the fact she was barefoot and wearing just one layer of clothing. babies are typically very heavily bundled up here, even when its 75 degree F outside. well, back to the cuteness factor. we were taking a family picture when this woman passed by and thought kaylah was so cute that she wanted a picture with her too. before i could totally process or question it, she took kaylah from my arms and had her friend take a picture of her. i could only (closely) standby and tell luke to snap a picture of the whole occurrence. at least kaylah didn’t seem phased.
and then as we stopped to take a few more pictures of just the girls, a small crowd of people gathered behind me and proceeded to use their cameras on them as well. (do you see that glazed over look in their eyes as they stare past me, dumbfounded, at these strangers clicking away? and then in that last one, i think they’re whispering to each other “can we hurry and get this over with? why is mom putting us through this? and why do all these people like to photograph us so much?”) such is the different experiences of being in China… maybe next time i will at least put out a collection hat for each photo taken. =)
April 15, 2010 - 5:23 am - Great shots, and such interesting cultural information! Thanks for sharing. And your girls are growing up!
April 12, 2010 - 6:08 pm - Are those flowers really in Hangzhou? How'd they keep the crowd from picking them?
April 8, 2010 - 1:45 pm - if i had spotted that cutie Kaylah i would have grabbed her too! look a those sweet little cheeks! thinking of ya!
April 8, 2010 - 10:03 am - beautiful pics! that's crazy about the paparazzi for hannah and kaylah! especially about the lady who grabbed her!! =P
look what we got to do this weekend. yum.
we ventured out with some of hannah’s classmates to the surrounding countryside to go strawberry-picking. me and hannah were both excited as we have never picked strawberries before and hannah *loves* strawberries. and it was a chance to get to know her classmates a little more.
the countryside really is beautiful this time of the year. the yellow flowers you see are *everywhere*, even in random empty lots and roadsides within the city. they are from a chinese vegetable called 油菜 (literally translated “oil vegetable”) how convenient that a staple food also blooms such wonderful yellow flowers. i soo want to find someone(s) willing to do a photo shoot in one of those fields. =)
after driving around for 1 1/2 hours (should’ve only taken 20 minutes), stopping literally 15 times to ask for directions, winding along seemingly random unmarked roads that the locals told us to follow… we finally found the place to pick strawberries. but i did enjoy taking in the scenery along the way. the strawberry picking place was basically just at someone’s home and farmland (no big signs saying “U-pick”). their house and property had a lot of character and photo-potential, and if i wasn’t toting 2 kids by myself, trying to keep up with 15 other people, i would’ve taken more pictures around their property. oh wells… if only i could find my way back there, i’d find me a few more someone(s) for another photo shoot. =)
oh and yes, the strawberries were delish. i liked how they made my whole car smell of strawberries.
sometimes i purposefully have little photoshoots of my girls. i get them dressed a certain way, i choose a certain location, i have a certain look in mind. thankfully, they still find all this entertaining, like a game. during these photoshoots, sometimes i will take tens to 100+ images, trying to capture that certain look i have in mind.
but sometimes, we just happen to be out somewhere, enjoying life, and i pull out my camera and click. just one click and it’s good. i’ve captured my girl in that candid moment – no posing, no directions – and i’m happy.
this particular one was during a field trip last week with her school. (how do you like the bright school uniforms?)
April 15, 2010 - 8:54 am - I miss my nieces!!!
April 6, 2010 - 5:54 pm - it's been awhile! how is life in china?!?!?!? you know i am still jealous, right? we just had some other friends move to shanghai in the past few months and it makes me miss it even more! your little one is ADORABLE. great capture!
April 3, 2010 - 10:41 am - hannah is looking more and more like you as she gets older. and yes, love the bright school uniforms! it probably helps the teachers spot the kids easily on field trips! =)
April 1, 2010 - 2:48 am - lovely smile! i was wondering where you got that outfit from! lol
by anita
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