Grace Tan

Yay, I wanna win those vouchers!

Updated: This contest is now closed.

I love my clients. And I love photographing couples in love. I am constantly grateful for the wonderful clients that God has brought my way over the past few years. Stories as a brand was only started this January 2010, and I am amazed at the response to our work! So, as my gift back to the people, I have 3 discount vouchers I’d like to give away to a couple who would love to have their pre-wedding portraits taken by us.

A RM300 Stories voucher to be used with any of our pre-wedding packages

A RM200 voucher from That Special Occasion

And a RM100 voucher for additional album purchases

How do you win it? It’s dead easy. Just leave a comment on this blog post stating why you deserve to win those vouchers. Tell me your stories! One winner will be selected by 1st October 2010 to win all 3 vouchers! Vouchers are valid for use up till 31 January 2011. So let’s get started!

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Lee, Cyndi, Russell & Owen

My relationship with the Fang family started years ago through my sister’s friendship with Sara. I photographed Sara’s extended family years ago, and more recently, her immediate family. And now, Sara’s sister – Cyndi’s family. I just love the way the world works and how one thing just leads to another.

Lee and Cyndi are really cool people. Of course, so are their sons Russell & Owen. They are the kind of family that does things together – like making your own mooncake festival lantern from scratch. By their conversations, you know that Lee & Cyndi have a deep friendship with their children; they speak about anything under the sun. Even though Russell’s PMR exams are just around the corner, he wasn’t cooped up in the room 24 hours 7 days a week… he was out taking his family portraits. :)

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Teasers: Cafe themed pre-wedding shoots

We’ve seen it all before. In movies, where couples fall in love over a meal, sharing drinks, enjoying each other’s company till the wee hours of the morning. Chatting about everything and anything under the sun, oblivious to others around them. I love the notion of falling in love doing something as simple as sharing a meal. In my recent pre-wedding shoots, I photographed 2 couples, different yet similar in so many ways.

A Chinese coffee shop vs an Italian cafe. Kopi peng vs wine.

But over this meal, romance blossoms and hearts pound in anticipation of the next date.

Note: The first image has been replaced due to various reasons. The full blog post will come later!

Grace Tan In Church Weddings, Weddings

Laughton & Wendy’s Wedding

Photographers: Grace & Andrew C
Bride’s Make Up & Hair: Michelle Touche
Make Up & Hair (Mothers of the bride & groom): Angie Ng
Church Ceremony: Assumption Church, PJ
Dinner Reception: Oriental Banquet, PJ
Wedding Cake: Buns in the Oven

Months ago, Wendy emailed me from London to ask if I was available to shoot her wedding in Malaysia. After a looong conversation over email, Wendy decided to make a booking, which eventually lead to another booking for her pre-wedding shoot. I really enjoy getting to know my clients before their wedding day, and even before I met Wendy in person, I felt as if I already knew her.

She is a really chatty and easy going person. On Laughton & Wendy’s pre-wedding shoot day, I discovered that Wendy’s a Peranakan, just like me! From Malacca! That describes the talkativeness and the fun nature! My brother jokingly reminds me all the time that Peranakan women are noisy, fun, love to dance and are full of drama!

And consistent with the nature of most Peranakan families, there was a little drama on Wendy’s wedding day.

Wendy’s lovely bouquet (featured below) was accidentally left behind at the Seapark Brickhouse prior to the church ceremony.

It was quite an upsetting moment, especially when Wendy had to walk down the aisle with ‘replacement’ flowers. But after all that drama, everything turned out well… the church ceremony went ahead beautifully, the friends were excited for Laughton & Wendy over their marriage, the dinner was scrumptious, and the families were happy.

Grace Tan In Boudoir, Casual Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Lights, Boudoir, Action!

I recently did another boudoir photography shoot, this time completely in the studio. It challenged my creativity because I had to constantly think of new poses for my client. You wouldn’t have thought that the background to this shot was anything but black in real life right? In fact, the background was grey. I used two flashes to create the look and to reduce all ambient light around my subject.

In the past, I used to shun away from using flash for my photography work. It is a scary thing that is hard to control. But once you begin to understand it, light is a fun thing to play around with. I am still learning and improving my skills over time. I know that there are flaws to this image, but overall, I am rather pleased with it.