LIFE IS A SERIES OF THOUSANDS OF TINY LITTLE
miracles
NOTICE THEM
KAROLINA MCLEAN
photographer
My heart is so full that you are here. That you want to get to know me.
I grew up in Poland in a family of artists.
Since I remember my home smelled like oil paint and turpentine.
My mom's fingers were covered in paint, and the walls were filled with her paintings. I went with her to museums and art gallery openings. Art was our life.
My dad was a sailor when I was growing up. On his long, sometimes taking months, trips he worked with wood. He could make anything you could imagine. From wooden replicas of famous ships to custom furniture. Appreciation for art and creativity is in my bones.
Life was so different back then in communist Poland, and childhood memories can be fuzzy. But my parents had a Zenit Russian film camera and they documented so many beautiful memories. It amazes me how connected I feel to my childhood when I look back at those photos.
It was fun playing with the camera when I was a teenager. Taking photos of my friends and their small siblings.
My life and education took me down a different route and eventually, I moved to the United States. What never changed was my love for photographs. I loved capturing the essence of people through my camera lens. I found it both fascinating and inspiring. And that’s how I started my business doing what I love most.
….and then I started a family and began my journey in motherhood.
That added a new element to my photography. Personal connection with the idea of the precious and fleeting moments of the time that we have with our kids when they are little. Before they grow up and slowly drift away to be separate from us.
Motherhood continues to be the most amazing, hard, and magical experience in my life. I want to remember every moment, be in it for just a little longer.
But time passes and all we have left are memories. And they may fade too.
I love to be present with my kids and capture their magic through my lens. That moment is not so meaningful when is happening. I never regret taking a photo of my children - because I get to look back at the photograph months or years later, and relive the magic of that moment. From the tiny toes to the first house my kids arrived home to, the giggles and first steps, and the chubby knees and all the rolls and then the running photos...because you are two and on the move.
With so many beautiful moments captured, I do have one regret: that I wasn’t in more of them.
That’s why I’ve come to focus on capturing motherhood and families. These moments are precious — and you are a part of them.