Me Ra Koh

I didn't find photography.

Photography found me.

And then it healed me.

I started as a writer.

For 10 years I worked on one book, Beauty Restored: Finding Life and Hope After Date Rape. The heart of this book was to be a message of hope to women and their husbands/boyfriends, parents and friends. I wanted them to know they were not alone in their pain. It is based on my own painful experience of being date raped in college.

Almost ten years later, on March 20th, 2001, the first day of spring, I birthed two babies; my beautiful, firstborn, Pascaline and Beauty Restored. When Pascaline was three months old we hit the road and for the next 18 months did over 50 National TV Shows and Radio Interviews. While my little one slept in the backs of churches and colleges, I was up front sharing my story and hoping one woman would feel hope again.

After two amazing years on the road, Brian and I were pregnant with our second. His name was Aidan, our little fire. While in TN for a week long speaking tour I started experiencing abdominal pains and three weeks later our baby Aidan's heartbeat stopped.

After losing Aidan, I couldn't speak or write and sought refuge in Brian and Pascaline's love. During those times of grief, I picked up a camera. Pascaline's innocence was precious from every view point. I found myself working to capture her story: the times she couldn't stop giggling, the times she curled into the safety of daddy's arms, the asleep time, the fussy and frustrated times, the first time she played with a yellow balloon...

Friends and family started noticing the photos and asked me to photograph their kids. Soon brides were contacting me for their weddings. I had gone from speaking to 800 women and sharing my story, to finding healing behind a camera. Life had taken this unexpected turn and now I was given the privilege to artistically capture another woman's story on her wedding day. Photography had found me.

A new chapter of life has unfolded, a chapter of writing other people's stories through images. Stories of new beginnings, moments of choosing to trust. Every time we shoot a wedding I see these moments; a grandmother reaches to squeeze the bride's hand, a groom whispers in his bride's ear, and then her giggle afterwards, a father's tears while he dances with his daughter. What could be more worthy of capturing than these moments?

Brian and I lead a creative team of associate photographers that do wonderful work alongside us. Our studio has been featured on VH1’s Fabulous Weddings, Oprah and Martha Stewart TV. We are also proudly sponsored by Sony, Adobe and Pictage. In 2008, Grace Ormonde's premier Wedding Style magazine named us one their Masters of Craft photography teams.

Our images of weddings and children have been published worldwide, as well as won international awards. Alongside our joy for photography, Brian and I have rekindled our love for speaking. Together, we travel nationwide, speaking at photography expos, conferences and leading workshops for not only the professional photographer but the parent, enthusiast and scrapbooker too.

Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box are two instructional DVDs that we scripted and produced. Our vision was to help empower parents in learning to use their cameras. This project has exploded and is bringing joy to thousands!

I've also found a new platform for combining my love of writing and photography: blogging. Each day I share a bit of my heart, our work and photography tips and exercises for the pro or enthusiast. In a short time, this outlet has gained an audience of over 13K unique visitors a month.

But the most wonderful thing…we have two beautiful children: Pascaline and Blaze. Capturing their lives is the greatest honor of all.

Each day I find that my pain is still with me over my losses, but the joy is going just as deep if not deeper.

For details on our DVDs and upcoming photography workshops, visit www.refusetosaycheese.com

To read our daily blog and find photoraphy tips and exercises, visit www.merakohblog.com

To see our day job visit, www.merakoh.com

Much Love, Me Ra