Life Stories: The Story of the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade 2012 | San Francisco Bay Area Child Photographer

I’m excited to share this month’s story and also thrilled to finally be live with my NEW BLOGSITE.  Woot woot!  Isn’t it purty?

This month’s story is about an incredible group of kids.  I hope you enjoy it!  If you don’t know what this Life Stories thing is all about, click here to find out more!

My daughter is pretty dang amazing.  And so are her classmates.  Since Kindergarten, she has attended the Mandarin Immersion Program at our local school.  She’s learning Mandarin.  And she’s pretty dang awesome at it.  I don’t speak Chinese.  I’m not even Chinese.  I’m half Japanese, but um, yeah, I don’t speak Japanese either.  My husband doesn’t speak Chinese either.  He’s Korean, and um, yeah, he doesn’t really speak Korean.

But my kids?  My half Korean, quarter Japanese, quarter Caucasian kids?  Well, they’re learning Mandarin.  The program is amazing.  This year, she also had the opportunity to learn Kung Fu and Chinese music as part of this program.  THAT’S called AWESOME.

And because of some seriously awesome parents and staff, they got to participate in the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.  That’s a huge deal, people!

I wish I could share more images, but I didn’t get model releases for everyone, so am sharing what I can!

I took headshots of all the kids before the parade so that we would have a reference sheet in case anyone got lost.  Luckily, it wasn’t needed but I did love the shots I took.  These were probably taken in a span of 10 minutes.  Aren’t they cute?

 

In preparation for the big parade, they had an assembly where I was asked to take pictures.

 

My proud sweetie, waiting to perform:

Excuse the blurred faces.  I wasn’t able to get model releases for everyone, but had to share how amazing they look!

It was pretty dang cool because they had these Wu Shu Kung Fu masters from Beijing perform for the kids.  They were amazing.  The guy in the middle was in the movie Karate Kid.  Not the old one with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, but the new one with Will Smith’s kid.  The kids were totally stoked to see him. And that guy that’s “lying down?”  He was jumping up and down in THAT position while swinging a rope under him.  CRAZY.

After months of practicing and preparing, the kids were ready for the big night!

They were just a little bit excited.

Excuse me for a second… I have to gush about this woman.  She is the mom of one of the kids in the Mandarin program, as well as a teacher.  Her energy, determination, and enthusiasm was contagious.  She did SO much to make this parade happen.  Let me just publicly get it out there: she ROCKS.  I love this picture of her at the parade, looking excited and so proud.  She’s quite a woman.  Thank you, Mrs. M.

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is the biggest Chinese New Year parade outside of China.  It’s a very organized parade, and only 10 adults were allowed to be with the kids once the parade started.  I was not in that group, so did my best to get pictures of the kids before the parade started.

It was such a fun night! Everyone was so excited.

I love these next two. I asked them to hold up their streamers that they had during the parade, and shot through it.

And here’s my sweetie cakes. She wrote an essay inspired by this picture called “The Ladybug Parade.”  She pretended that this picture was a picture of her peeking through the streamers at a group of ladybugs who were performing.  I love her imagination.  I love her intensity.  I love her face, her eyes, her smile.  I love this child.

When it was time for the parade to start, I had to get off the street.  Due to the crowds, I wasn’t  able to follow her for very long.  I got this shot of her just as they were getting ready to start.  I love the look of pride in her eyes.

Such a wonderful night.

Click here to continue the Life Stories chain!  You’ll know you made it all the way through when you make it back here!

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19 Comments:

  1. amy
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    ok first of all… not that i didn’t like your old blog but htis one is awesome!!! i love it looks really really great!!! and the pictures are gorgeous!! you captured the day soooo well! love the headshots where you can see the big city up and behind them very cool!! and the last one is my fav!!

  2. angela Ross
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    Laura…these are soo cool!!! LOVE the parade pics and how awesome for the kids to meet all those performers?

  3. beth
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    Beautiful as usual!…. love all the color!

  4. Nicole Ridella
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    These are all so beautiful Laura. So much color and happiness. The last one of your girl is my favorite – it’s gorgeous!

    (Did she get to keep her outfit? It’s lovely!)

  5. Jessica Deane
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    These are just so cool! I want to be able to jump in the air like that!! haha. Your daughter sounds amazing… I feel as though she got it from her mama <3

  6. Amber
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    Laura. My dear Laura. You are pure magic. Plain and simple. I love how you can tell such amazing stories with your images. I could scroll through and KNOW the story without every having to read. That’s true talent and that’s what makes you so special.

  7. Danielle Frank
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    This post was A-MAZ-ING. Seriously, beautiful and action packed. Your daughter is looking so grown up now. She’s so beautiful, but when did she get so grown up?

  8. Kathleen Weibel
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    So cool! Those performers are amazing! Love the shots of the parade. Love the colors.

  9. amy
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    LOVE these. But that last one…. SWOON

  10. Life with Kaishon
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    WOW! These are some very beautiful pictures. Stunning. What a great class!

  11. Liat Biderovsky
    March 30, 2012
    Reply

    I just cannot tell you how much I love your work! Everything you do is infused with some sort of magic. Stunning, stunning, stunning!

  12. Kelly Mack
    March 31, 2012
    Reply

    WOW WOW WOW that was just beyond awesome! Love your work. Love your girl. Just awesome!

  13. az
    March 31, 2012
    Reply

    I LOVE that you captured this for all of the families who had children involved… What an amazing experience! <3

  14. maggie
    April 01, 2012
    Reply

    gorgeous! Congrats to them…what an awesome job! I love the pics you caught in action where it looks like the instructor is floating. Amazing :)

  15. Audrey
    April 01, 2012
    Reply

    These are amazing, not that I would expect any less from you Laura! I love the one of her peeking through the streamer.

  16. Nancy
    April 01, 2012
    Reply

    Your new site looks awesome! Love this post. You can tell the kids had an amazing time. And wow…all the color!

  17. Taryn Chrapkowski
    April 04, 2012
    Reply

    What a truly magical day and such an honor that they participated – I love how you captured everyone! Beautiful!

  18. Jen
    April 04, 2012
    Reply

    Your new site looks AWESOME! I love the energy, color, and enthusiasm that jumps out of these. Just beautiful!!

  19. Christie
    April 04, 2012
    Reply

    Wow!!! So many amazing shots, and what a cool experience for them! Awesome photos as usual Laura!


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