It’s such a compliment when a fellow photographer hires me to photograph their family. Jenny and I met through the organization Soulumination, for which we are both volunteer photographers. Jenny hired me to create some maternity photos, and then after baby arrived for his newborn session. We met at their new home in south Seattle, and spent a relaxing afternoon documenting life before the addition of their first baby. 
Jenny had the nursery almost complete to welcome their baby boy. I love the bright blue paint they chose, along with a collection of classic books.
The weather was really crazy that day, with clouds coming and going, and sunshine, then showers. We found some dramatic light right in their backyard near their abundant pear tree.
And of course we included their first “baby” into the session! The love for dogs is real! I remember when I was pregnant with our first baby, and worrying endlessly about how our dog Shadow would adapt to having a baby in the house. I made my sister promise that if Shadow didn’t do well with the baby, that she would adopt the baby! Hahahahaha. Thankfully Shadow did fine with all of our children, and is now totally relegated to the lowest family member on the totem pole. I know from my return visit to photograph Jenny’s baby, that their pup also gracefully transitioned in his role!
Sometimes maternity photos are just about capturing that bump. It is such an amazing thing that women’s bodies do when growing a new life, that you really need to celebrate that and document the bump in photos. I love this happy photo of Jenny’s bump that we created, with the sunshiny pop of yellow. It turns out this photo became the inspiration for a before & after series that we completed at her newborn session once baby was out! One thing I regret from my twin pregnancy is not taking many photos of my (gigantic) belly. I was just feeling blah, too whale-like, too exhausted, and also nervous about the outcome of the pregnancy, so I never hired anyone to take maternity photos. 🙁 I’m so glad Jenny didn’t make the same mistake that I did.
Carrie Yuan is a documentary family photographer in Seattle, Washington, specializing in documentary family photography sessions that honestly tell the story of your family’s here and now. Carrie’s passion is to document the full-of-love journey that is parenthood and childhood (with a sprinkling of humor), in all its chaos & beauty. Carrie lives in Seattle with her family: a husband who turns out to be quite a task-master when it comes to homework, a seven year old who is thrilled to start a Junior Olympics program for gymnastics, four year old boy/girl twins who are learning math (!!!), and a lab-ridgeback canine who has resorted to stealing Theo chocolate out of my work bag. Not okay!!!
Carrie is currently booking family documentary photo (and/or FILM…as in video) sessions (that do NOT require the purchase of new outfits, or cleaning your house), in-home newborn sessions in the Greater Seattle area, and hospital newborn sessions in Seattle hospitals.
We headed out to a Christmas tree farm as they hunted for the perfect tree for their home. We were all intrigued by the different varieties of trees they had available at the farm, beyond your standard Douglas fir or Noble fir available in the city. It can actually take a while to select your perfect tree, as there are so many variables to take into account. They have different varieties sprinkled throughout the farm, and then there are trees of different size. I believe the one they settled on was called a Nordmann fir, which had these beautiful, longer delicate-looking needles, and of course a fresh Christmas tree scent!
After the tree was secure we headed back home to decorate! I love seeing families dig out their ornament collection, and marvel at the significance of each ornament as they’re added to the tree. Kellie’s family was no exception, with homemade ornaments, photo ornaments of the kids as babies (they grow up SO fast!), and even dad’s track and field ornament from high school!
After the decorating was complete, there was lunch, being silly, building a swing (!!!) and of course lots of playing outside, which is always impressive to me, having grown up in Hawaii and being perpetually COLD!
Thank you, Kellie & family, for inviting me to document this very special day in the life of your family! I hope that decking your halls this year will be just as special!
This year I’m making these paper heart Valentines for my kids. Each day I cut out a heart for each kid and write something that I love about them, then tape them to the window in our dining room. I’ll do this everyday until Valentine’s day. The 3 year olds are pretty oblivious, but my 6 year old enjoys me reading her the hearts each day, and she even helps me out with suggestions. This was the first day, and now our window is nicely filled with hearts! Do you do anything fun for your kids for Valentine’s day? Do you celebrate Valentine’s day with your partner? I’d love to hear what you guys do!
Hey, photog friends who have considered but never attempted a 365 Project! Hey, friends who wouldn’t really call themselves a photographer, but are intrigued by the idea of taking a photo every single day for an entire year. It’s your lucky day because I wrote this blog post especially for you.
But there will also be (many) days like this!!!!