“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” – that’s how she describes her feelings after winning the My Dear Snowman Mission.
Indeed, we at Foap couldn’t find a better word to describe her photo either (thank you Marry Poppins!) This photo is so adorable, so enchanting, yes it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !
Foapers, meet Anna Lyn (@nylanna100) – behind each amazing photo there is an amazing person.
Anna, first of all, congratulations for winning the mission. There were many great submissions but your photo stood out and we fell in love with it. But before we speak about the photo, could you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where do you live?
Where do I start? Okay, I would try to answer this question as short as I can for telling about myself and where I came from is kind of a long story. I am a professional teacher that ended up being a housewife of a beautiful family. Although I was born in Cebu City, Philippines, I spent a lot of my childhood years from Siargao Island before my parents decided to move in Mandaluyong City where I lived for 14 years and got my Bachelors Degree in Manila. Part of those years I was travelling to neighboring cities and islands. After a couple of years teaching in an elementary grade school i decided to travel abroad for a work of which I could say I did good and save enough money to stop working for quite a while until I met a wonderful man through my sister and brother in law. We did some email correspondence for a few months that ended up into getting married and the rest is history. That’s what brought me here to Omak, Washington.
What do you do when you are not Foaping and snapping great photos?
Aside from exploring new places, gardening and cooking are my latest passion for healthy living. Last year, we had a good size garden that produced an overwhelming supply of vegetables, more than enough to feed my family. I am thinking to grow more variety of flowers so I can snap more shots this coming summer and share it on Foap.
Now, let’s move to the Snowman mission. Once again, a big congratulations on your first Mission win! How does it feel to win this mission?
I am so grateful that my photo was chosen, THANK YOU SO MUCH! To describe the feelings of first mission win is “SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!!” We were out of town and having dinner in a restaurant when I first learned the news in my email. It took a few minutes for me to believe. It was my first time to join in a photo related contest. Although I wished for it, winning a mission was far from my thought. So I showed my husband the email and we both exclaimed excitedly “YES!!! YES!!! YES!!! ” with matching body gestures oblivious to our restaurant surrounding. I had no proper training at all when it comes to photography, all I know is I just love to take pictures and whenever the right time comes I give it a shot. This “WIN” really means a lot to me, I’ve had sleepless nights thinking about it.
The winning photo is so amazing. Can you tell us the story about it? It looks like as if it was taken from a Disney movie scene… Who made it? 🙂 Is it your daughter in the photo?
Anne (our three year old daughter) had made many requests for a snowman. Seems she had fond memories of helping make one last winter. I mentioned her pleas to “papa” (my husband) but due to his recent foot and knee surgeries I wasn’t really expecting much response. However, one morning as I was busy with dishes Anne came in from outside very excited asking me to please find a carrot. This I did and I then followed her out to find that she and papa had been very busy producing a very large snow man. Signs of their activity were all about the area including broken boards from the ramps used in the assembly! Together we found hat and scarf to complete the creation. In this picture it seems like Anne is a bit dumbfounded that her snowman had lost some prominent facial features so quickly from the weather having warmed up by that afternoon (as evidenced by the rocks in the snow at her feet).
When I browse around in your portfolio I see photos from all over the world. Besides photography it seems that travel is a big passion in your life. This photo below caught my attention with it’s mysterious fog. Where is it taken?
It is true that I enjoy experiencing new places. In my life as I was growing up and in my work before I married I was privileged to enjoy many places. Now that I have a family we find travel to be enriching in many ways. I admire beautiful views and like to go to different places that afford ample shots of almost everything that’s worth clicking the camera, without paying much attention to the memory or battery. One circumstance was during our trip to Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park where the photo with the mysterious fog was taken. We drove so far and took a few shots at this amazing beach that is like heaven on earth when suddenly the battery became low (must have something to do with the cold weather that day). What a terrible disaster! It was a huge mistake not to carry extra batteries. Nevertheless, I am glad that this photo caught your attention.
For how long have you’ve been Foaping and how did you find out about Foap?
If I remember correctly it was early in Autumn of 2014 when I joined Foap but only started to upload more photos in early winter. I learned about Foap through my husband, he read a Foap article online and told me to check it out.
Among the photos in your portfolio, could you pick one that you like a little bit extra? That is special?
After considerable debate with my husband (had really hard time narrowing it to only one picture) I finally settled on this picture in my portfolio of Anne being embraced by her grandma Dorothy. Upon making this decision David and I had a discussion about the feelings this photo had captured. It turns out this shot captured a rich mix of emotions on grandmas part that I was not aware of. We were on a trip to Stehekin and had stopped at Rainbow Falls as this was a spot David really wanted to share to me. It’s a special place for him as well as for his mom and their whole family. David’s father Don died six years earlier of ALS and his ashes had been scattered nearby making this a place even closer to their hearts. For Dorothy in that place and in that moment with Anne there was an embrace brimming with wishes that Anne could have known her grandad, that he could still be there in person admiring those beautiful falls right then alive in person. That and more but at the same time grateful for him that he was suffering no more and that Anne was spared experiencing a grandad in such a state as ALS puts you in. As for Anne and her feelings in that moment it seems that a child’s love and empathy were the product of her hug from an angel.
Wow! That photo expresses so much emotion and knowing now the story behind it makes it even more incredible!!!
Moving now to something else: What are the things with Foap that you like the most and why?
Well, first thing I liked the most is that you don’t have to be a professional photographer to be able to join FOAP. There’s no limit to the number of photos you can upload or sell. You can join as many missions as you like and as long as you have the right picture and the right subject and gets the approval of the reviewers then you’re good to go. The thing is if it doesn’t get approved at first attempt then you will still have the chance to try again.
The Foap community is full with talented photographers. Are there any Foapers that you would like to recommend to other Foapers to have a little extra eye on?
I definitely have one in mind. I believe @threeboydad is definitely worth checking out. When I looked at his portfolio I was really inspired to upload many many photos because his shots are very beautiful and it seems like he is being quite successful on Foap.
Anna, thank you so much for sharing your story and your photos with us. Congratulations for your beautiful photography and for your wonderful family!
