It's a Christmas Baby!

Mother and baby meet for the first time from Michele Farley-Photography on Vimeo. music by bensound.com

Just a couple of days before Christmas, a long time friend asked me if I could take her picture before giving birth. What an honour it was to do a quick shoot for a friend to immortalize her beauty once again, this time in all the glory of her pregnancy. We had done a fashion shoot many moons ago. Yes this lady is a beauty queen and wore a crown with that title to prove it.

And quite the queen she is for being so powerful and tireless. Actually that could be said of all women who choose to bear children. It takes strength. Beauty is just part of the total package it seems. I took a few pictures as to not impose too much, but she did not let on how actually tiring it was... She was to give birth the next day as it turned out.

Lucky again, was I to pay her a visit on the very same day she was strong enough to get up to go see her baby. The rules of the admitting hospital may be different where you come from, but at this particular hospital in Seoul, the mother is not allowed to handle her baby until both are strong enough. But, we were able to see her, yes a baby girl, born December 21, 2015. I've been around pregnant women, I've been around babies, but this is the very first time get to capture both the  before  and after. So to celebrate  I decided to put it all together, a bit of photography, a bit of videography, a dash of music, and another beautiful story just in time for Christmas.

This is my gift to her and I hope you will find this project just as special as it was for me to make.

Wedding Photos and Telling a Story with Music

Jack and Patricia's Wedding Dec 12, 2015 Seoul, South Korea from Michele Farley-Photography on Vimeo.

Congratulations to the happy couple!
I love weddings. They are magical. It's wonderful to see and share in so much happiness. But for the photographer, it's hard work. Its difficult to take in the ceremony since you are focused on getting the shots that need to be part of any good wedding album with lots of close ups. When all is said and done, and you open the magic box, your camera, film or digital card, and view what you have captured you feel the magic in a different way. You celebrate the shot where the bride smiles just so and the groom has that twinkle in his eyes, and you didn't have to direct them.

I'll admit, I prefer to be "The Un-official 'Wedding' Photographer", a role I've played a few times as well just because I can't help myself. However, I make sure I'm out of the way of the official photographer, I don't get in their shot, I don't get in people's faces, or try to take over the directions to get the shot "I" want. I also don't steel the official photographer's shot by shadowing, but I do get my shot position taken over by the official photographer on occasion when they discover I've found another vantage point (a position giving a strategic advantage, commanding perspective, or comprehensive view.) but that's a different story.

A wedding is a story. Its a story of celebrating a union of two people who love each other.  That's the perspective I like to have in those occasions where voyeurism is from a different angle. As the actor you see what is in front of you, your groom, your bride, your parents, your friends. You are focused on the moment. But what else is happening, you can't start looking around, what does the ceremony look like. Now for this wedding there was a large screen and live streaming so all could see the action close up; a nice feature for large spaces and getting it like watching a movie. For the bride and groom, you get to see the movie later providing you also hired a videographer. 

Everybody sees differently, but being able to look back on something through someone else's eyes is a totally different experience, and that is where photography plays a big role. It allows us to share our stories and be part of them all over again. But what movie is complete without a sound track. This is not a video, but a photo montage (a combination of several photographs joined together for artistic effect or to show more of the subject than can be shown in a single photograph). You can call it a slide show if you prefer. The point is that the selection of the photos is important. But where the real magic occurs for me in doing these creations, is in adding the sound track and having the timing just right so that the music also tells the story of the image as it appears. It's just another magical moment when everything just falls into place, just as it should, just as the lives of the happy couple, right place, right time, memories and music for a life time.

Now, I'm going to go back to the magic box and work on more captured moments from this life time event. Again, let me say, congratulations to Jack and Patricia and all the best for your future together. This is my wedding gift to you, you get to be both actors and audience.

I hope you enjoy this "slide show" and discover the gems in the collation of the music and the moments I was able to capture as "The Un-official Photographer", the other eyes to see.

I am grateful to JoshRoy Reggae singer, composer, producer, and music producer Paul Shan  (Sound Factory) for their part in making this magic happen for me and for my audience.

M.