International

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, For Photographers, International, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships

The Maze of Marrakech, Morocco

Within the fortified medina walls, lie little stories and hidden adventures at every turn. It is truly a maze, and if you are not careful, you’d easily find yourself walking in circles, trying desperately to navigate your way to someplace familiar. When I landed in Marrakech, my senses were just heightened. I love the energy of being in a country like Morocco. Reminds me of my travels to Egypt in the past.

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Looking at Google maps within these walls would be completely useless. It’s just a blob of emptiness…seemingly no roads, but in reality, there are hundreds of pathways leading down alleyways where some merchants try to sell fig, dates or bread.

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Honestly, I am not too big a fan of their tajine dishes… after a while, it started tasting alike to me. Krysta traveled with us, and she was a trooper!

On the first day, we were led through these pathways, through a small alleyway that was less than 6 feet in height. There were times when Alex had to duck his head because the ceiling was so low. But then, we came to this huge door that revealed a beautiful riad inside.

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, International, Life, Musings, Portraits

Hola! Barcelona 2013

My first love has always been travel. I love creating images as I wander the streets, looking at life through my lens. When I travel, I like the idea of going off the beaten track, looking into the side lanes, hoping to glimpse something different. Honestly, I don’t really enjoy taking photos of buildings, but I get really excited when people are added to the equation. It makes me wonder… what are they thinking of at this moment? What are they doing, where are they going?

I came to Barcelona with my family to celebrate my brother’s 50th birthday. It was really wonderful being with family and his friends, just spending 2 weeks away from work for a while. I hope to rejuvenate and get some new inspiration as I travel. Currently, I am in Morocco, which is an amazing country, full of surprises every corner. More on that later… but for now, here are some shots from my travel in Barcelona.

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Grace Tan In For Photographers, International, Life, Musings

Fraser Island, Australia with the Panasonic GX7

Early this month, I was invited to Fraser Island, Australia to test out the new Panasonic Lumix GX7. The first time I laid eyes on it, I fell in love! It has a beautiful vintage look that will look good with any outfit I wear, plus, it fit my small hands perfectly. Over 2 days, I had the privilege of going around Fraser Island with this micro four thirds camera and a huge range of lenses. Thank God the camera and lenses were light, so lugging around 7 lenses in my sling bag was easy-peasy! I would definitely consider this camera as a travel buddy.

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The landscape at Fraser Island is just so raw and untouched. It is the largest sand island in the world, with the beach stretching over 123km in length. What was interesting to me was the fact that the beach is actually a designated highway so there are signs saying 80km/hr is the max you can go!

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Now can you imagine this landscape with a couple in the photo? Darn, I wish we had models to photograph!

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All the photos in this post were taken with the Lumix GX7 – minimally edited. I was really amazed at the quality and colour of the images. The curse of being a photographer is that sometimes, your photos never get to see the light of day because you’re always wanting to ‘edit’ your images before posting them online. I mean, I have been guilty of colour grading every single travel photo before posting it to Facebook! Since the images that come out of this camera look superb already, hopefully, it’ll cure me of this ‘editing’ disease that every photographer faces.

The 90-degree tiltable Live View Finder also made shooting interesting since I could see things from a different perspective. (Plus, it made me look cool – do refer to the first image in this post). One thing I had to get used to was learning to focus on the touch screen, but with the focus peaking feature, it gave me the confidence knowing that the highlighted edges in an image are the parts in focus.

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Grace Tan In Chinese Weddings, International, Outdoor Weddings, Weddings

Beach Wedding in Hua Hin, Thailand: Vut & Yan Yan

He was known as the “Thai guy” at church in Melbourne. There, Vut was almost like furniture, since he’s been there for ages. Yan Yan didn’t really know too much about him personally, though she heard that he liked soccer and food. Rumour went around that Vut once ate dog food because he was too hungry (which she later discovered was indeed a rumour!). It was only towards the end of her 3rd year at uni in 2009 that she got to know him better through gmail chat.

And so, a Malaysian girl fell in love with a Thai guy on Australian shores.

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In 2013, Vut and Yan Yan tied the knot on the beautiful beach of Hua Hin, Thailand, witnessed by close family and friends.

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One of the things I really enjoyed about this wedding was that it was really windy on the day of the wedding. It didn’t feel humid, like most beach weddings I have photographed. The wind did make it challenging to change lenses though! I was a little concerned about the fine powdery sand going into the camera and how I’ll need to get it cleaned after the wedding! That thought didn’t last too long though, cause I totally enjoyed the cool sea breeze as we photographed the ceremony that evening.

It was also a special trip because it was Weiming’s first trip to Thailand. Alex and Krysta also tagged along on the trip, so that was really nice to go back to my family after a long day’s work. Of course, the Thai food was awesome too! I could eat Thai food almost everyday!

Thanks Vut and Yan Yan for your hospitality and thoughtfulness. We were touched when we received little cupcakes from you after the wedding too! (The entire studio enjoyed the cupcakes!). Just like your awesome wedding favours below, I wish your marriage a spoonful of devotion, a heap of perfection, a dash of kindness and a pinch of bliss… except that may it multiply a hundredfold beyond what you can imagine!

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Grace Tan In Church Weddings, International, Life, Musings, Weddings

Myanmar Wedding: Bobo and Catherine

Catherine and Bobo are in their twenties and in love. They are youthful, enjoy life, love the Lord, and dream of a future together. Pretty much with the same dreams as any average young adult Malaysian. The only difference is that they are living in Malaysia as refugees. When Catherine traveled thousands of kilometres by land from her Myanmar home to Malaysia years ago, she had to face many uncertainties, fears and hardships as she made the journey here.

She moved to Malaysia because she wanted to help her parents who are pastors in Myanmar to support their younger siblings through school. Even though she didn’t know anyone in Malaysia then, she left the comforts of her home to a foreign land, alone. Somehow, God connected her to some other Myanmar nationals who were also seeking refuge in Malaysia. And it was there that she found a church to belong to – a church that spoke her language and were filled with her own countryfolk.

Interestingly, Catherine got to know Bobo at church, but only got to know him better at another Myanmar refugee wedding we photographed 2 years ago. When I asked Catherine what attracted her to Bobo… she answered without hesitating… “I love how he loves the Lord.”

Since most of their friends (including them) work at restaurants or boutiques in shopping malls that close after 10pm, it’s natural that the only time they can conduct a wedding is at midnight.

How our paths crossed
One day, I got a FB message from a girl named Sheryl asking if I could recommend a place where Catherine could get a wedding gown for under RM400. This girl Catherine also had in mind to send the gown back to Myanmar to her father’s church after her wedding so that it could help other girls who couldn’t really afford a gown. After a few messages, I told her that I had my old wedding gown which I could give to her if she was keen on having it (since we were both petite at XS size). I met her in church one day, and gave her 2 of my wedding gowns to choose from. It fit her to a T! It was really special to see that my gown went to someone who appreciated it so muchI also want to thank the team of people who came together to make this wedding memorable for Catherine and Bobo. They include:

Make up & hair for bride: Michelle Touche
Make up & hair for bridesmaids: Shinny Ong
Photographers & Videographers: Stories.my (Ben, Diane, Grace, Wee Liem and Johan)
Wedding Cake & Catering: Makanlah Now
Church: DUMC