Today I’d like to introduce you to Laura Morita-Yeun of Laura Morita Photography located in the sunny San Francisco Bay Area. She has amazing talent and always brings out the best in people. If I had to describe her work in three words, they would be: Fun-loving, Energetic, and Creative. Now I know you want to see for yourself, so go ahead and go on over to her BLOG or check her out on FACEBOOK. This girl is going places…she has a heart as big as the world and is very passionate about her work!
I’d like to introduce you to Laura Morita-Yeun. I seriously love this portrait of she and her son on his 5th birthday. See…I told you she was super creative!
Laura has sent me this beautiful image as her feature image this week. I just love their expressions!
About the feature image…
1) Why do you love this image?
These three boys were really fun to shoot! They had so much personality, and seriously, I have so many ones that I really love! But trying to get a shot of all three was, um, well, TOTALLY CHALLENGING! While this required a lot of head swaps in Photoshop, I love the final result. It really captures each of their personalities perfectly. The face on the littlest boys face is complete perfection for me!
2) What were your settings with this image?
ISO 1600, f4.5, 1/640. Shot with my Canon 5D Mk II, 24-70 lens at 24mm.
About Photography…
3) What do you love about Photography?
I love that it captures a moment in time and can convey very strong emotions. I love that it can make you think, make you feel, make you laugh, make you cry. I love the creativity it sparks in me. I love looking through the lens and composing a shot. I love how it has made me appreciate light. If I never picked up a camera again, I would still always have the gift of seeing light in such a miraculous way. I love that.
4) What type of Photography do you specialize in and why?
I specialize in child and family portraiture. I love connecting with a child and getting them to trust me and my camera. I love making it a fun experience for the child and family. I take pride in the fact that I am almost always able to connect with a kiddo and get genuine emotions captured. The innocence of childhood is completely beautiful and pure to me. As we age, we lose that wonder, which is such a shame. When I’m working with a child, I get that wonder back. Seeing the eyes through a child and knowing what I need to do to evoke that energy really makes me feel alive.
5) A good portrait means….
You captured a little piece of their personality, you evoked an emotion, you get people to stop and stare a little bit longer than they normally would.
6) What do you wish you would have known when you were first starting?
I wish I had put my camera into manual a lot earlier. I had a digital SLR for a year before I switched it off of Auto. I’ve always had creativity, but being creative when you are in Auto and have your pop up flash going off just doesn’t give you the image that you have in your head.
A little about Laura…
7) If you could live anywhere for a year, where would that be?
Hawaii. I lived there for two years and loved every minute of it. We still have friends that live there and visited them last year. There’s something very much like “home” when I am there. I love the Aloha spirit! And I seriously love shave ice. And cocoa puffs from Liliha Bakery. And Malasadas. And Manapua.
8) What is the one gadget that you can’t live without?
Well, I could LIVE without it, but I really love my DROID X.
9) How would you describe your shooting style?
Energetic!
10) Why did you start in photography?
To feed my soul. It’s almost a cliche to say you started because you wanted to take better pictures of your kids, and for me, that is part of it. But it was a lot more. It was about finding me and expressing me. It was about interacting with my subjects and getting them to trust me. It was about capturing the now in a really pure way–not in a posed cheesy way.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know Laura. Now go to her blog and leave her some comment love. She’d love to know you stopped by.
Next up is the beautiful Kathleen Weibel from Kathleen Weibel Photography. I cannot wait to share this interview with you.
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