Love Behind the Camera

I've BFF with this mama for over 20 years now. Our first names are the same, Megumi, and we used to confuse people. We were in the same photography department in the college, we were always together after school and on the weekends. Back in the days when we used to go out at night lol, and people asked our name, we said, "Megumis". People often thought we were kidding and said, "haha. no, for real, what's your name?" We spent way too much time together in our 20's. We were always there for each other and I know we'll be for 20 more years. So taking her family photos means a lot to me. A lot.

Maybe I am too into family photography. Maybe too much...? lol but I just believe that this is the most valuable art form. What is more valuable than a moment with your family and kids? I can't think of anything else. Being able to take family photos of my loved ones is the most important thing for me. No doubt.

Thanks to my grandpa, I have a lot of photos from when I was little. As a mom with 2 kids, I know there's love behind a camera. I didn't really realize it until I had my kids. I mean, you know there's always a person behind a camera to take a photograph, right? but you never think about it. You just see what's in the photo. I have a little number of photos that have my grandpa in them because he was the one taking photos all the time. Those are like my treasures. Now I'm a grownup and a family photographer, I can feel the love in the photos he took. I have a photo of my grandma holding baby me. I can almost tell how my grandpa looked behind the camera. How lucky am I to have that memory of them! For any level of photographers out there, taking photos of loved ones means everything. I know that for sure.

So I want you to remember if you have photos of yourself laughing at the camera, there's somebody that loves you behind it. Smiling at your smile, thinking your smile is the best thing in the world. It doesn't matter if it's with a phone or camera. I hope you know that.

My job, as a family photographer, is to capture your family together and have YOU in it. Yes. You. Always taking photos of your family and kids, yes, you need to be in photos sometimes! so your kids won't have to look for a photo of you and find only a half-eye closed. lol. Your kids will feel your love in photos that you take, but they won’t remember how you look or how you hug them without family photos.

I hope to capture this family for years and years to come.

…Wait, I take it back. Not "hoping", more like I AM TAKING. Even when the girls get older and want to have nothing to do with me, I won't let that stop me! lol.