Have you ever heard the phrase “I’m in shape. Round is a shape.”

Well, being pregnant and ’round-ish’ is beautiful!

Kenneth scored a goal! :) Congratulations to the both of you!

I think I panicked and gasped at the same time for a whole 1 minute.

Actually, Yee Xing’s sister Yee Ming had contacted me a few weeks before the ROM and asked if I was available to shoot the event and also some family portraits on that day. I was mentally prepared for a family shoot but wasn’t prepared for such an elaborate event. What made matters interesting was that there were 2 other videographers hired on that day, plus one other photographer from Singapore. Can you imagine all of us trying to squeeze on that tiny platform in the middle of the pool, including the bride, groom & wedding officiant? I had to do a lot of creative framing on that day . :)

In the end, everything turned out well and I am pleased with the outcome of the images.

Colin & Yee Xing, I hope you like these images and I look forward to your wedding banquet!

Yee Xing was one really calm bride. While we were getting ready in the room, her zip actually broke and we couldn’t zip up her wedding gown! Her make up artist and my assistant Yih Wen was busy trying to sew up her wedding gown, and everything was delayed by 45 minutes. But through it all, she was smiling, completely unfrazzled! Of course, that gave me more time to take portraits of Colin!

Some family photos before the ROM starts.

Before she walked down the aisle, Yee Xing actually sang a beautiful song for Colin. So sweet!

Another family photo for the road.

Credits:
Photographer: Grace, assisted by Yih Wen
Location: Capella, Singapore 

Don’t miss this photography workshop! You will definitely get personal attention from all 4 of us girls and we aim to make this a really fun session for everyone!

As for the topics, we have everything from lighting to posing (babies, families & couples!) to learning about Lightroom & Photoshop, and even about the business side of photography! For our fun filler sessions, we have a make up & fitness session too. Do read the synopsis in detail here.

A description about what I’ll be covering:

Show me the Light! by Grace

Interested to know how to make your bride look slimmer?
Find it difficult to shoot once the sun goes down?
How about lighting a group of 50 people in a dark church?

Mastering lighting is one of the keys to making your photography better. Grace will share her experiences and techniques on available and artificial lighting while making the session practical and easy to understand. You will see things in a different light after this session!

Due to a number of requests, we are now offering a FREE 2 hour basic photography class to confirmed participants on a separate date prior to the workshop. Beginners are encouraged to attend this class. Date to be announced soon. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Register for the workshop here.

Since we’re all still in Chinese New Year mood, I thought I’d share some tips (from a photographer’s perspective) regarding the tea ceremony that happens at every Chinese wedding. Hope it helps you plan for your tea ceremony!

1. Please prepare  a list so you are well organized during the ceremony. You don’t want to accidentally miss that aunt who travelled all the way from Ipoh to attend your wedding. It also enables the ceremony to run smoothly as the next person can prepare their gifts and ang pow before it is their turn.

2. In the past, we’ve photographed a tea ceremony with a large group of about 100 people. And that was only one side of the family! Instead of taking 2 hours for the session, you could speed things up by preparing additional seats – while one couple is being served tea, the next couple is already seated on the 2nd set of chairs, waiting for their turn! One couple we photographed actually created a semi-circle of about 10 seats. Everyone was seated, and the couple made their rounds in an orderly manner.

3. Find a spacious area for the tea ceremony where we can move around easily for multiple angles. Try not to place the seats against a wall. Give at least a 3 feet gap so the photographer can roam behind the seats for a different perspective.

4. As for the arrangement of the chairs… it’s quite normal for the 2 chairs to be placed side by side in a straight row. But when we take a side angle shot, the person in front usually blocks the person at the back. So we do sometimes request permission to adjust the position of the chairs a little, if the elders are ok with it. Do prompt them about this so they won’t feel upset that the chairs may be arranged for better photography.

5. Ask the person collecting ang pows or preparing tea to stand across on the other side, away from the photographers. That way, they would not be blocking the bride & groom and also, they would appear more often in the images!

6. Lastly, when you serve the tea, try to hold the cup in a way that your hand doesn’t cover it completely.

Hope these tips help! Enjoy the moment and remember to laugh a lot!

Chairs were positioned one slightly behind the other so that everyone is visible from the photographer’s perspective. Unfortunately we can’t really see the tea cup in this shot. 

 Having space behind the chairs is great because it enables us to move around easily!

Lots of space to move around! And of course, if your home has lots of big windows with natural light, that’s an even bigger bonus for us!

I hope you are having a great time with your family members this Chinese New Year, and for those who are not celebrating, hope you are having a good holiday. I want to kick off the dragon year by sharing the wedding of Saw Wen & De Way.

Now, Saw Wen & De Way had come to enquire about our services more than a year before their wedding. At that time, my business was just starting to bloom, and I was stoked that someone wanted to book us that far ahead.

Saw Wen & De Way’s story started 11 years ago while they were still in school, meeting at the sweet ripe age of 16.

That girl in the Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt

De Way: I remember, 3 girls. That was in a tuition class for Bahasa Melayu when I was in Form 4. 3 fine looking girls from SMK Seafield, 1 tall, 1 pretty and 1 nerdy. Fast forward to SPM year, I noticed her. She was generally louder than other students during class, gave opinions when not asked for, irritatingly completed the teacher’s sentences every now and then etc. Oh yes, she wore a Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt to class, just like me.

Saw Wen: De Way was a perpetual sleepy head and seemed like the quiet type. At the beginning, we hardly spoke to each other until form 5. We got to know each other better during our after BM tuition yum cha sessions, went cycling and hung out in a nearby park together with a bunch of friends. As the months went by, I found De Way to be charming and had such “beautiful eyes”. He made me laugh (he still does) and I found myself to be falling for this guy.

De Way: She used to tell her stories when we met at a mamak for drinks after tuition. This went on for a while and it felt normal spending time with a girl, no special feelings I dare say. Then, one fateful rainy evening, I had to send her home with my bicycle, with her holding the umbrella. That was when something felt odd…good but odd. Since that day, I made it a point to accompany her home after our mamak session.

Prom Night

De Way: Fast forward after SPM… one of the most crucial moments in high school – prom night. I knew who I wanted as my partner and this was what I went through to get her agreement. It was during her open house with all our friends present, I deliberately cycled back to her house after all of us left just to ask her. Unsurprisingly (ahem ahem), she agreed. That night, the moon was high and so was I.

And so, prom took place and what set me on the course of having this girl as my wife 11 years later happened that night. We danced towards the end of the night and I asked her if she would be my girlfriend.

Saw Wen: I actually said, “No, I don’t think so.” At that time, I was planning to further my studies overseas and didn’t think that it would work out. Worse still, when De Way said he would wait for me and I had to rub salt into his crushed heart by saying “Ya right!”

De Way:  After breaking my heart into pieces, she crushed it further into atoms, by mocking about my promise to wait. Bah!

Saw Wen: Till today, I am still reminded from time to time how mean I was back then to him.

Two Hands

De Way: We parted ways after that dreadful night, only to meet again in college a month later. We were still on good terms and 1 day she saw me walking with my classmate – a girl.

Saw Wen: I thought this might be his new love interest. Regret was within me and knew I had to do something about it. One night after yum cha, being the gentleman that he was, he offered to send me home. During the ride home, I asked De Way how were things between us and he replied that we were still friends. I needed further confirmation and asked him if he still likes me and he said yes. I said “It takes 2 to clap.” Much to my surprise, the reply I got was “I will take my hand out to clap with you.” It has been 11 years and the rest was history. We have been together ever since. He sang his proposal last year and we got married on 9.10.11.

De Way: At the risk of sounding cliché, the rest is in fact, history. But that was how I met my wife – the one who is loud and opinionated (now not so much already *phew*), who took my heart and crushed it into atoms, who got jealous/upset after seeing me walking with my female classmate, who set me up with her friends’ help and lastly – the nerdy one in the tuition class. Who would have thought? The nerdy one. Hah!

What made this wedding so memorable were the many funny expressions we managed to capture that day. De Way also started learning the saxophone a few months before the wedding day, practiced really hard and performed to hundreds of people that evening. If I was wearing a hat, I would have taken it off as a salute to him!

Reflections…

Saw Wen: Why Stories? We started our wedding preparation early and were looking around for wedding photographers. Don’t quite recall how we tumbled across Stories’ blog and love the rich and vibrant photos which captures the moment and details of the big day. Stories, we truly love the photos captured during our wedding and a BIG thank you goes out to Grace, Johan, Weiming and the entire Stories team! We hope you guys had as much fun as we did! :o)

De Way: Photographically, this is what I have to say – most importantly, what I fancy are photos that are lightly edited. They should look as close as the one out of the camera even after editing. Long story short, Stories was able to provide that feel. Being passionate about photography, I believe the depth of FEEL is larger than the depth of field. And this goes beyond Stories’ photos but also the service by the team as a whole, which is awesome.

In a nutshell, Stories team was able to:

Keep it simple. Make it elegant. Keep it personal. Make it happen. Keep it coming. Make it great!

Credits:

Photographers: Grace, Weiming & Johan
Location: Sime Darby Convention Centre
Wedding Gown: Valerie Fan
Groom’s Attire: Fit & Match
Make Up: Leric Yap
Cake: bejewelled*
Flowers: Weng Hoa
Dinner Entertainment: One Under the Five

You will need:

1. A camera. (Any kind of camera will work, really! Doesn’t have to be an expensive and bulky DSLR. Your point-and-shoot will work well!)
2. Your group of happy relatives.

Tip #1:

Leave no gaps, unless it’s intentional.

As you can see the picture above, the gap has created a kind of awkwardness. As if Weiming (right) does not want to have anything to do with the group. So remember to ask your subjects to go closer.

Tip #2

Handbags, lose ‘em!

Ladies, I know it’s pretty hard to get your hands off your new Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton bag that you’ve just purchased for the New Year.  Holding them while taking a group photo looks like you’re about to head off somewhere.

There. Much better. :)

Tip #3

Connection

Show the world you love each other! Ask your loved ones to put their arms over each other’s shoulders. Cuddle, if they like. If there are young children, tickle them and make them laugh. Tell a joke, make your loved ones laugh and smile. Your pictures will turn out more natural that way.

Tip #4

Working it for the Camera

If you are taking group pictures of a group of ladies, always tell them to stand sideways and rest their weight on one side of their hips and bend their knees a little. This will accentuate on their curves and will make them look slimmer.  Alternately, they can cross their legs and rest their hands on their hips. Your aunties, female cousins and their spouses will appreciate you for that. You’re welcome.

Guys, standing straight will make you look like you’re about to sing the national anthem. So look cool- put your hands in your pocket or cross your arms. Remember to smile. 

*Extra: You may also want to tell your relatives not to lift their hands as this may cover other people’s faces. Here is a very good example not to do that:

(Picture source: Huffington Post)

Follow these steps and you will be on your way to feel like this kid:

Have fun!

xoxo,
Diane

Sometimes life gives you a few interesting surprises along the way. Chance encounters that were fated. Especially when you’ve communicated with the person in the first place, but never met each other.

In 2005, Eng Wah’s company had a job vacancy. Penny’s housemate was his ex-colleague, so she got in touch with Eng Wah through MSN and sent him a resume. Unfortunately she did not get called in for an interview and as luck would have it, she never got to meet Eng Wah.

Two years later, they met each other in an IT event. She came with her colleague and he was there with his housemate. They sat together, had lunch but did not talk to each other.

Fast forward to 2009. Somehow his contact was still in Penny’s MSN list, so one day, she noticed his status had changed to include an IQ test. Penny answered and it was right. That was the first time they started a conversation online. Everyday, Penny and Eng Wah looked forward to their online chats. “Good morning” was the keyword to trigger the conversation of the day. Gradually, they found their similarities… same college, favorite restaurant, favorite food, favorite song, pasar malam, travelling…

Eventually, they started going out for dinner, movies, pasar malam every Wednesday…

When Eng Wah cooks, she tests his food. When Penny goes out for photo shoots, Eng Wah becomes her model (which is unusual, as most girls tend to be the model instead!). Their friendship grew, until one day, he finally mustered the courage to hold her hand while shopping at Isetan.

Which led to… 2011.

One day, Eng Wah picked Penny up from a company event and they went home together. When she arrived home, she found that he had used her color pencils to write “I LOVE YOU” on the ground. On top of that, there was a delicious looking jelly inside the fridge with the words “Would you marry me?”on top. And she said yes!

The day of our photo shoot (by Eng Wah & Penny)

In order to make sure we are relaxed during the shoot, we decide to take whole week’s leave. Before the actual shooting day, we went to Melaka for food hunting, ate a lot of food… Satay Celup, chicken rice ball, durian cendol, capati and roti naan, nyonya food, coconut milk shake… we might have added a few extra pounds during that trip, but we didn’t care… as long as we were happy.

It rained on our shoot day. When Grace reached Pullman hotel, she told us, “Don’t worry, the rain will stop soon. Let’s start shooting in the hotel room first.”

Grace always tells us to enjoy the moment, talk to each other …. But the problem is that we didn’t know what to talk about! So the only thing we said to one another was… “Wow the food in Malacca was great! Satay celup, chicken rice ball, durian cendol…. ” BLA BLA BLA…. So when we talked about the food, we laughed as well.

The day when we received the DVD

The day we received the DVD from Stories.my, that night, the both of us kept repeating the slideshow… repeat repeat and repeat. I can’t remember how many times we hit repeat… I kept telling Eng Wah, not enough… one more time please….  The photos are just so beautiful. And we discussed which one we should print as canvas… this one… that one…. Ahhh~~ can’t decide which one is the best… almost all are best!

Eng Wah & Penny, am so happy you love the photos. Though the mosquitos at the park were voracious, I didn’t mind. Wish you many years of excitement hunting for new places to eat, and places to take photos! :)

This photo session was really relaxing for me. I loved the fact that James and Dea were really easy going during the shoot. They told me that they just wanted to have a good time together (which is awesome!) and it didn’t matter if Aaron’s tummy was showing or not. They were even willing to lie on the wet grass for me (it had rained the night before).

Most family photo shoots can either be a fun or stressful session. Some parents get really upset if their child is not constantly smiling at the camera during the shoot, or are not ‘behaving’ the way they want them to. I usually tell the parents to relax, and just have a good time with their kids. Some parents end up yelling at their kids during my photo shoots, and I don’t think that helps create a good mood or atmosphere. Threatening the kids to take away their candy doesn’t work either. :P Or bribing them with stuff… well, it sometimes works.

But the best way to get fun, relaxed shots as a family? Actually have fun.

What matters most is that I get to know the brides and grooms that I photograph. I want to know what kind of people they are. I want to know what they like and what they dislike. Do they like to pose or do they prefer candids? Out the many many weddings I’ve photographed, in my entire wedding photography career, I’ve only been asked twice “Do you shoot with Nikon or Canon?”. And both conversations ended up being a fun conversation anyway. Hehe.

I love Nikon and I love Canon in different ways. But when the tyres hit the road, my aim is to have a great time capturing your wedding no matter what the camera tool you put in my hand. It’s my job to figure out which tool works better in which situation and it’s my bride and groom’s job to have fun and have an amazing wedding day. That’s really all there is to it.

Here is a list of things that will help us get to know you better:-

1) We’d like to meet you over a quick coffee a week or two before your wedding day

2) Do tell us what are the important details that you want photographed eg you’ve stuck “I Do” stickers under both your shoes, etc

3) Keep us updated if there are any last minute changes to the flow of events

(and if a longer checklist makes you more comfortable, just ask us and we’d only be too glad to furnish you with one) Hehe.

Explore and Enjoy!

Johan Sopiee

A great moment captured by Johan! PS: Without looking at the exif data, can you tell which image was taken with a Nikon or Canon?

* What the Duck is one of my favourite comic strips!

So yeah… part of my new year resolution is to not be overly nerdy, keep a good work life balance, and to be more up to date with my blogging! There are many weddings which are still sitting patiently in my hard drive, waiting to be blogged.

Here’s one that I absolutely have to share with you. Top 3 reasons why I love this wedding:

1. It’s a fun fun fun wedding! It all started when I read their wedding invitation card…

Seven years ago, in the faraway land of Cyberjaya, Ian met Joanne at a Christian Fellowship gathering and was smitten ever since. Thankfully, Mr & Mrs Lee Kah Meng and Mr & Mrs Chow Cheng Hock approved of their relationship and they didn’t have to elope. So come and witness the union of these two souls on 5 November 2011. They will profess their love and commitment to each other at Good Shepherd Church at 11am, and share the rest of their story with you over food and drinks at The Bankers Club from 6pm onwards.

2. The groom uh, looks a little unconventional.

3. The bridal party were dressed in our Stories’ theme colour! (light blue & brown!) Hip hip hurray!

I had a blast at Ian & Joanne’s wedding! Thank you for inviting us to be part of your wedding day!

The guys in super hero outfits and the girls just looking stunning!

Actually, we had heaps of fun with the games session… Ian had a bagful of expressions for us!

And the funny thing was that he snuck into the Sekeping Terasek room through a window! (Tip for all brides who are planning on having their wedding there, please make sure the window is barred!)

He got the bride, now off to church for the wedding ceremony!

Parents of the bride & groom…

Love this gown by That Special Occasion! And I love Joanne’s cute expression!

Custom made flags by a friend…

So let me expand on the little intro chapter of how they met. MMU Christian fellowship is a great place to make friends, encounter God and… well, meet girls. Joanne was rather cute, so she immediately caught his attention. Soon, Ian found out that Joanne needed transportation to get to church, and guess what? Ian had a car!

But there was a problem. Joanne was oblivious to Ian’s feelings. One day, he asked Joanne about the status of their relationship and that prompted her to start thinking about it. Sadly for Ian, he was given the dreaded answer…let’s remain as friends first.

After that, Ian left for a mission trip in Sarawak and didn’t have a phone connection for a few days. It was then that Joanne discovered she actually missed him! So she plotted a way to get out of this mess. After Ian came home, Joanne created a fake chat ID with the name of Joanna (she really does have a friend with that name), and messaged Ian as Joanna, trying to understand whether he still had feelings for Joanne.

He said yes!

Not long after that, Joanne was involved in a car accident and needed to be brought to a clinic for a check up. She called Ian who willingly came to the rescue. During that car ride, she brought up the subject of a relationship… and sealed the deal by holding his hand!

Every tea ceremony should have lots of laughter like this one!

During the dinner, guests were invited to take photos at Ian & Joanne’s little vintage corner.

Oh, and I absolutely adore this cake! The cake topper is gorgeous!!

Here’s another perspective of the cake topper. See the resemblance with the image on the right?

Great speeches.

Awesome yum seng sessions.

Warm friendships.

All the ingredients you need for a great wedding.

Congratulations, Ian & Joanne! And for those who read my blog regularly, you’ll notice that the vendor credit list has been moved to the bottom (just like the movies, the credits appear at the end!)

Photographers: Grace, Weiming & Alex
Wedding Gown: That Special Occasion
Bridesmaids Dresses: Cordino Creations
Groom’s Attire: Lim Trading Co, Setapak
Make up: Meoki Tong
Decorations: DIY
Stationery: Faith Books & Stationery
Flowers: Denise Flower Shop
Church Ceremony: Good Shepherd Church Setapak
Dinner Reception Venue & Cake: Bankers Club, KL