For as long as I can remember, my two sons have been in love with their father. In fact, I know for sure that Logan’s first word wasn’t mom or mommy, it was appa. In Korean, appa means daddy, it’s an affectionate term that young kids use to call out for their father. Sam has been enamored with the boys from the moment he laid eyes on them, even to this day, he can’t wait to get back home so he can play with them or take them out.
In these photos you’ll see a common theme, our youngest Logan loves peeping over Sam’s left shoulder, it’s his favorite spot. From the moment he was born, Logan has never left Sam’s side. In some ways, I can’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous for the relationship that they have, as the mother I thought I’d be closer to my child than my husband, it’s like he’s taken over the role of “mother hen.” But then I remember what a solid and sweet man Sam is and I’m more than happy that he gets to experience that close of a relationship with our son.
Sam is a remarkable father. He’s the kind you wish you had when you grew up. Early on, he made a conscious decision to be a part of our children’s lives, especially during their younger years. He’s stern when he has to be and then, the next moment, he’s over-the-top fun. The boys scream like he’s a rock star when he comes home, they just can’t get enough of him.
My own relationship with my father is complicated. I never felt connected to him, he immigrated to America from Korea back in the ’70s and then worked as hard as he could just to make a living for me and my three siblings. Though I understand that he couldn’t be at our recitals or our swim meets because he was busy working, I still can’t help but feel a sense of sadness for the relationship that could have been.
My father didn’t grow up with his own father because he was killed when my father was young. Also, Korean culture calls for fathers to be respected and feared. My father never said “I love you” to us, he didn’t provide us with any emotional support. He was mostly just absent and when he was around he’d make us feel like we owed him something, that one day, when we had the means, we would pay him back. He was detached, unable to give his children the love and support they needed because of his own upbringing, because of our living circumstances, because of his culture and because he just didn’t know how.
I finally got around to listening to Kelly Clarkson’s song Piece by Piece, which she sang on American Idol. My older sister Grace told me not to watch it, unless I wanted to break down and cry. I tried to hold back the tears but they came streaming down my face anyway. “Watching my husband love on his daughter all the time, you know, go to her events and just be there and, like, be present is, like, hard to watch but beautiful to watch,” the singer said in an interview. “I know that my kids are going to have that.” I share that complicated feeling, that sentiment.
Like many people, I hate being in front of the camera, I feel much more comfortable behind it. For the past four years, I’ve been snapping photos of Sam with Parker and Logan as they do everything from rest together to play with each other in the backyard. Though in some ways, this photo series called “Appa” is new, it’s really been four years in the making. As I learn more about photography and as the boys grow, I hope to continue to share more photos of my two sons and the incredibly beautiful relationship they have with their father.
This ongoing photo series is dedicated to Sam, the man who shows me, every day through his actions and his words to me and our children, that unconditional love is possible.
Can we file this under, “Where was this when I was a kid?” Target just came out with a new kids’ home collection called Pillowfort and it’s beyond adorable! Made up of an astounding 1,200+ pieces, it includes bedroom furniture, bedding, stuffed animals and even wall fixtures. Each piece was designed internally by Target’s own Product Design & Development team.
According to Target, the Pillowfort collection is meant to appeal to the Pinterest generation of parents and kids; expertly curated decor that looks like the perfect blend of DIY, thrift store finds and designer boutique buys. Basically, Target is giving us busy parents a one-stop-shop to create a dream room for our kiddos.
On Target’s website, they’ve put together some complete rooms and then called them fun names like Camp Kiddo, Ocean Oasis and Discovery Den. After looking them over and all the cute items inside (who doesn’t want to sleep inside a teepee), does anyone else wish he or she was 10 again?
Until March 19, my favorite art gallery, Thinkspace in Culver City, is showing works of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist duos. One of these is Austria-based Jana & JS who creates incredibly precise stencils of people in various poses. Their pieces are inspired by their personal photographic work. You can find these stencils outdoors in major European urban centers but here they’ve presented a body of work made of acrylic, spray paint and stencil on wood assemblages. I love how you can feel the vulnerability in each pose.
Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about the type of photographer I’d like to be and I even went so far as to look over all of my photos to find some common themes. Then, I thought back to the photographers I’d written about on My Modern Met, the ones that stood out to me so much that they compelled me to share their images with the world. One of the photographers that came to mind was Japan-based Hideaki Hamada, who takes a mix between heartwarming and classic photos of his two sons, Haru and Mina. (Here’s my post about them from back in 2011.) Using only natural light, he captures fleeting moments that harken back to childhood. Not only do you get a feeling that you’re getting to know his two sweet sons, you’re taken back to your own childhood and the carefree feelings that come with it.
Here’s what Hamada told Rangfinder when he was asked how he captures such candid moments:
“When I look at my children, I have a strange feeling, as if I am watching myself reliving my life. What I want to show is their ‘living form.’ Children always act more than I expect, and the inspiration for my photography comes from this sort of behavior. When I take photos of my children, the important thing is to maintain an objective perspective; not too close, but also not too far away, as if I am watching them from behind—something close to mere observation, I think. This gives the photos a universal quality, and I believe this is necessary to communicate their living forms to someone else.”
I especially like this part: “not too close, but also not too far away, as if I am watching them from behind—something close to mere observation.”
Now that my own two sons are getting older (Parker is four and Logan is two), I’d like to start taking photos of their childhood in this vein. Of course, I wouldn’t copy Hamada’s style, rather, I’d take inspiration from it. I love how he captures his sons staring off into the distance, taking in the moment. Or the startled look on one of his son’s face as they peek out of a gate. I love the simple backgrounds, the different angles.
My day just got better. I’ve followed Roeselien Raimond for awhile, the way she captures the carefree spirit of red foxes is unlike any other wildlife photographer. My Modern Met conducted an interview with Raimond in September last year about her Zen Foxes series. I just checked out her 500px and her Fine Art America page and noticed that she’s captured her favorite subject kissing each other. Many of the pictures are titled “Foxy Love Series” and show a mom with her kit, showing affection and love. How does your heart not warm up when you see photos like this?
Photographer Nick Brandt just came out with a powerful new photo series that captures the rapidly vanishing natural world of East Africa. Having taken photos of wildlife for ten years, he came back to the very same spots where the animals once inhabited to show how urban sprawl has taken over. Just three years ago, these places were filled with animals, who were free to roam at their own will. Now, factories and garbage dumps stand where animals like elephants, lions and rhinos once lived.
To create these photos, Brandt carefully matched up the composition of the original photo with the contours of the land. You can see how each animal blends into the background but now, how all around them, stands a virtual wasteland.
Animals in Africa desperately need people like Brandt “to visually document their plight for survival, share their stories and hopefully inspire policy change that will help save them from extinction,” said Alexandra Garcia, executive director of International League of Conservation Photographers in Washington, D.C.
The series, called Inherit the Dust, will be on exhibition at Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles starting March 24.
Outside of the National Geographic photo competitions, the Sony World Photography Awards is the best at bringing to the forefront the world’s most talented photographers. Did you know that it’s the world’s largest photography competition? It receives an astounding number of entries, this year it was a record-breaking 230,103 from 186 countries, that’s up 33% from last year. Since its launch in 2007, they’ve surpassed 1 million entries, which makes them one of the most influential photography competitions in the world.
The shortlisted images have just been announced, and boy, are the photos spectacular. I sorted through all of their main categories – Professional, Open and Youth, and brought together 30 of my favorites. Though there was a “Highlights” package I could have just presented, instead I wanted to look at each shortlisted photo to find the most spellbinding, the ones that give us a new way to look at life. From a mother cheetah protecting her cubs to a father cleansing his son’s skin, enjoy these beautiful moments of the world around us.
The overall winner of the awards will be announced on April 21, 2016. Can’t wait!
Image Name: Cuba Beach/Reuters
Image Description: People swim at the sea in Havana, April 28, 2015. On Sunday, Cuba registered a temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees less than the island’s historic record, according to Jose Rubiera, Director of the National Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology of Cuba.Copyright: � Alexandre Meneghini, Brazil, Shortlist, Open, 2016 Sony World Photography Awards
Remember artist Simon Beck? His name might sound familiar to you. Beck creates these magnificent murals in the snow solely by walking. (See 2012 article.) While I’ve seen many images of his amazing works, this is the first time I’ve actually watched a video of him in the process of creating.
Great Big Story, a company who’s dedicated to telling the stories of the untold, the overlooked and the flat-out amazing, just released this new video of Beck himself. As they explain:
“Two hours measuring; eight hours of work…For Simon Beck, the average snow mural consists of 40,000 steps (or the rough equivalent of a long day’s walk in the hills).
“It started as an alternative to hiking up a mountain, but gradually the activity began consuming Beck’s life.
“Great Big Story took to the skies over Powder Mountain Resort in Utah for a big-picture look at Beck’s recent work. The scale and grandeur of it was amazing…”
Below, check out some images of Beck’s recent work and then watch the video below to get to know the artist and his unbelievable work.
As you may know by now, I’m a fan of hand lettering and these small but impactful illustrations, I think, just take the art to the next level.
You may remember Dangerdust as the anonymous students at the Columbus College of Art and Design who snuck into a classroom each week and created beautiful chalk art. They would take famous quotes, found either through a Google search or a suggestion from a friend, draw up a rough sketch and then make a masterpiece using just chalk. (See here and here.)
The duo, who may now have graduated (no one knows for sure), recently started a new series called MicroQuotes. First, they draw by hand small-scale quotes almost always starting with pencil. Then, they color in their drawings either with colored pencils, watercolor, or regular paints.
I love their choice of quotes and all the thought behind choosing how to illustrate them; what medium they used or what colors they chose. My favorite quote out of the bunch? “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent van Gogh. Did you know that the famous artist suffered from mental illness? He had frequent episodes of depression, paralyzing anxiety and, according to some accounts, the symptoms of bipolar disorder (like me).
Alright, ready for another batch of fun links of the week? Let’s see, this weekend we were suppose to go to Disneyland to celebrate Parker and my niece’s birthdays but one of the main freeways going there is closed so we postponed the trip. I’m looking to doing something fun with the kiddos, maybe practice my family photography a bit too, but I haven’t decided on a place yet. Also, heading to my sister’s to catch up.
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
