Yohei, Fumiko and their two adorable children Shotaro and Shinjiro moved to Kuala Lumpur for work this year and wanted some casual portraits to remember this milestone in their life. Especially since Shinjiro was turning one at the time of the shoot! They feel it is such a great opportunity to experience different cultures and meet new people as a family. We’re glad to be able to document snippets of their life here in KL. It was a pleasure meeting you!
As a child, I remember begging my mom to hold birthday parties for me. Even at a young age, I knew parties were fun and the extroverted me just LOVED being around lots of people. To fulfil my requests, I recall the amount of preparation she put into making the party an awesome one for me- from cooking the food to preparing the gift packs and inviting friends and family. Now when I think about it, I really cannot thank my mom enough for making the little gathering a spectacular affair for the 9-year-old me.
Unfortunately, mom was so busy that she forgot to take a photo with me at the party.
Having shot a few kids’ birthday parties, I realise not much has changed. It’s easy to get caught up with coordinating the event and not enjoying it. I think what’s worst is when all your efforts in coordinating this event is not properly documented! Based on my experience as a photographer, I’d like to share a few points for you to help your photographers get the coverage you want.
It is not usual for me to take on a family portrait session for a large family- 15 people, to be exact. Usually when I do, I am blessed to work with great families with great stories to tell. At point of inquiry, Stephanie, who helped to organised for this shoot to happen had to draw out the family tree to show me the family make up!
It was important reunion for the family. They have travelled from different corners of the world for this and I quickly learnt that some of them have not seen each other for the last 13 years! That makes this photo session even more meaningful and I know that I have a great task at hand to make this experience a good one for them.
The shoot was actually supposed to take place in their family home. Although it would really be an easy to feat to just set up the lighting at their living room and get it all done and over with, but I was not going to let that happen when I saw the gorgeous morning sun right in front of the house. Thankfully the family thinks it’s a good idea too to have their pictures taken right in the middle of the road! It helps when your photo subjects are very accommodating! :)
So with my assistant, Cheryl doing some traffic control, here are some of my favourite shots from that morning.
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Cindy is one meticulous mom, she made sure that communication between the both of us are clear. I remember my initial contact with her regarding the shoot we added each other on Facebook so that I can get to know her family better. And true enough, her love for her family spills over, especially for her very adorable little girl, Qing Qing, who was turning 1 year old.
It was also JuJu, Cindy’s sister in law’s graduation from UKM. When she told me she graduated from studying dentistry, I am suddenly reminded that I need to visit my own dentist soon. *shudders*
Qing Qing was possibly one of the easiest babies I have photographed. There’s no fuss – other than getting a little whiny after being kissed gazillion times (who wouldn’t want to kiss those chubby cheeks, I mean, com’on!), she just smiles sweetly.
Must be Arthur’s stubble- Qing Qing’s feeling the tickle!
My father was an avid photographer – the only one in the extended family when I was a child. Clad with a manual SLR, he captured some moments in the family that I think are very precious. Being the sentimental person that I am, I love the photos so much because dad simply captured our ordinary day – they are pictures of me falling asleep when I was doing my homework, my little brother giving my mom a kiss when he was 3 years old and little sister who made a face at the camera because dad was trying to take a shot of her eating.
So when Alex suggested to do a photo session with them at home doing ordinary stuff, I jumped right into it. I thought it would be different from the ones that we have done before and also, new ideas often excite me. Hehe.
I went in with the idea of shooting like how a Nat Geo photographer would shoot – photojournalistic. Some nice wide angles to give an idea of the environment, unstaged, raw and at the same time, contemporary. I thought about the shots that would simply tell a story of their everyday lives – the kind that would make the family feel nostalgic when they look at the shot 10, 20 years down the road.
The shoot turned out to be a very fun and satisfying one! Alex, Grace and Krysta were so natural in front of the camera as I pranced around them with a black piece of something (camera) on my face. I also kinda forgot that I was shooting my boss. I guess it’s a good thing because if I had that thought hovering around my head, I would have a lot of pressure!
I really do hope you like the photos, boss. Hehe.
Diane
