YELLOWHALE - the story behind the name...
kyung jung
Almost all of my clients ask me why my business name is Yellowhale. The story behind it has been posted on the website since 2004 when I began the journey, but I wanted to share it with you again today because I just received the most beautiful watercolor drawing of the yellow mother whale and her calf from my friend artist Canan Esen. Isn't it perfect?
With Ethan, Feb 2003
It all began when my first son, Ethan was born fourteen years ago. My husband and I were filled with the joyous anticipation of raising a little boy. However, when he was born with an unexpected medical condition, we needed to obtain treatment for him in another country, and this required our family to be separated for ten months. It was when he was just over three weeks old when we left home and when I started photographing his daily life (from waking up in the morning to go to bed at night) to keep my husband intimately involved in his growth. I had SONY cybershot digital camera with 32mb memory stick that could not even record a video then. There was not much function except AUTO or portrait, even if there was, I would not care much. The purpose of my photo shoot was to document my son's daily life to show my husband when we were far away from each other. However, I felt helpless (defeated) when the baby in the pictures was not as beautiful as he is in real life. In fact, it did not even look like him... When I emailed them to my husband, I would explain by words about how much more handsome he was in person.
“Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.”
By the time Ethan became a couple months old, I started to look for a better way to capture his fun personality and look with the camera. Finding information on line, reading photography books, using my sister's SLR camera to experiment different ways to take better pictures of him. I had a mission to show the REAL life and look of my son to his father! Ten long months later, he finally got better and we were able to come back home to reunite as a family. To this day, my husband knows every details of our life during those months because of these images. Even when we were not physically together, we were able to share our life together. Those moments meant so much to me that we decided to exhibit our journey to our friends and family when Ethan turned one. We made a slide show made out of hundreds of images and displayed framed pictures on a gallery wall where we had his first birthday party hosted. Many of our friends came and celebrated his birthday and his full recovery with us and some asked me to photograph their babies because they loved and were inspired by my story! That's how I started my photography.
With Ethan, Oct 2016
photographed by Millie Holloman
This journey inspired my love of photography not only as an art, but as an intimate way to tell a family’s story. As more and more people contacted me for baby photography, I had to make a website with a domain name to show samples and other information in one place. One evening, I watched a documentary on Humpback Whales and immediately connected with the intensely loving and sacrificial bond between the mother and calf. The mother whale migrate thousands of miles to a shallow and warm water to give birth and raise the young calf until it learns how to swim and breathe and grow strong enough to swim back to arctic ocean where there is food for them. She would starve while taking care of the baby because there is no food for the mom to eat in shallow warm water for fourteen months after the baby is born. She barely have just enough energy to go back home by the time they can swim home together..
The story of the Humpback Whale caught my heart. I instantly connected to the relationship between the mother and her calf. The story paralleled my life as my son received care and became healthier, stronger, and more independent. There is so much LOVE and GIVE in the story of Humpback Whales. I knew every mother would have done the same for her child.
I have chosen the name “Yellow Whale” for my photography because the color YELLOW (of passion fruit!) represents my passion for photography and WHALE represents mother's love. Yellowhale combined the important vision of the Humpback Whale bravely teaching her young the lessons of life so it too one day could forge a life filled with brilliance and strength. and I hoped to portray the love and connection among family through beautiful images.
The year 2017 is Yellowhwale's 13th year photographing babies, children, and families around the world. and I am so grateful for the opportunities I had to connect and celebrate the love and togetherness with all our friends. THANK YOU and I appreciate you and want to give back.
To show our appreciation, we've got a PORTRAIT SPECIAL for you.
For just $99, you will get our either Studio or Signature experience including Design Consultation, Portrait Session, Selection Consultation. With your portrait order, you' will also receive our special edition metal desk portrait (8x10, valued $299). Plus, 5% of the sales will be donated to Lonely Whale Foundation.
Call today to book. 202-870-6773.
We are giving away UNLIMITED sessions at the $99 promo price from now till Mother's day (May 14th). Portrait sessions must take place by June 30th, 2017. Restriction may apply, please inquire.
Hope to see you and your friends soon!
And again, I really thank you Canan Esen for the amazing water color painting.