Japanese Tradition of 753

I'm super excited to share these 753 family portraits in downtown Los Angeles!

753 is a Japanese tradition to celebrate kids' growth. They wear kimonos and usually go to a shrine to "thank" for their healthy growth and wish for a bright future. Boys do it at the age of 5, girls do it at the age of 3 & 7 yrs old.

It is pretty important even in Japan and we always dress up and take a family portrait. For some families, this is one of the only time to take a family portrait. Usually, the whole family wears kimonos and take a very traditional family portrait at a studio.

My awesome creative long-time client here got a better idea. She wanted to shoot it in downtown LA! When she told me her idea, I got super excited!! Kimonos in downtown?! Yeees!! That made my photographer mind exploded. lol

And look at these results... Amazing!!!

Yes, kimonos are so hard to wear and very uncomfortable. The kids just wanted to get out of it as soon as they wore. But they killed it!! I'm so glad she brought the idea for me and we pushed to do it. ( we thought it might be too hard to do...)

I hope this will be one of many of their special memories as a family. It's a special memory for me for sure. This is kind of the photo that you will look back and you can re-live that moment like it was yesterday...

I still remember when I had to wear a kimono when I was 7 yrs old. I hated it so much. lol I was in a super bad mood the whole time and my studio portrait looks like, well, I'm mad! I started stripping off the kimono right after the photo session was done because it was so uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure my parents weren't happy about that... I still have that photo at my mom's. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

I believe that is what the family photo is about! Any memory is a good memory when you're with your family.

Thanks for the W family for this great opportunity! I had so much fun!!!