For Photographers

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Bloom Workshops #3: Portraits in Penang

Our 3rd Bloom Workshop was held in beautiful, heritage Penang where tradition meets modern art ideas and creativity abounds. As usual, we had the support of wonderful sponsors such as Schmidt Marketing, WCA Fine Arts, Simplr, Kitty Bakes, My Hyper Store, Black Milk Studio, Barnyard & Prairie and That Special Occasion. Our 3 day workshop focused entirely on the art of posing and portraiture, and the participants had a great time with the theoretical and practical sessions.

I personally find teaching satisfying, though pretty exhausting. I’ve conducted about 20+ workshops and also taught photography and film editing to college students through out the past 8 years. It’s a challenge to think of how to verbalize your thought process and simplify it to students. I guess the good feedback I receive from my previous participants have shown that I am doing some things right!

If you ask me, I don’t think I’ll ever give up actual photography work for teaching. I still love creating images through my lens and making my clients happy when they see those images. But every now and then, you’ll find a workshop or two coming your way from us.

Here’s some highlights from the workshop. Enjoy!

Bloom III_Group Shot

The four Bloom girls speaking at the workshop – Anna-Rina, Fiona Lim, Asther Lau and myself.

20130816_BLOOM_WORKSHOPS_PENANG_026

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, News, Running a Business

Stories Family Feature: Nigel Lim

I am really excited to announce our latest addition to the Stories family – Nigel Lim! As our family grows bigger, we hope to be able to cater to everyone’s needs in a better and even more efficient way. I believe that we have a strong team of people who are dedicated, passionate and able to deliver good work to all our clients. Nigel, we’re excited to have you join us, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing amazing work coming from you in the near future. Below are some of Nigel’s images that were created in the recent past.

Nigel found his love for photography and videography at a very young age. When he was 10, he held a camera and started taking photos/videos whenever he was on a family vacation. It was just a hobby for him at that time. Since then, he never stopped doing what he loves most.

In 2008, Nigel got himself a DSLR. It was still quite a new thing back then. Without any help, he explored the camera all by himself and that’s when he realized he had an eye for photography.

After finishing high school and college, he decided to study photography more in depth. Nigel took up a degree in RMIT Melbourne and he studied Bachelor of Arts (Photography). While he was there, he covered some weddings and events part time. It was also as an avenue for him to improve his skills. This was when he decided to make photography his career.

After graduation, Nigel flew back to Malaysia and continues to pursue his dream here.

Nigel’s ability in wedding photography is to capture split-second precious “aww” moments. He loves paying attention to details. Building a good relationship with his clients are important to him because it will ensure that he and his clients will have a stress-free, fun, and happy day on their special occasion.

nigel23

nigel6

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits

Family Portraits: Terence, Devi & Jaydee

I’ve known Terence and Devi for over 10 years, since I was a university student in Brisbane. They are 2 very cool individuals – Terence’s grin and laughter (plus silly jokes) is pretty infectious (though I sometimes admit I roll my eyes occasionally), while Devi’s warm, calm and pleasant personality makes you feel as if you’ve been her friend for umpteen years (even though you might have met her for only 15 minutes).

Devi’s Thai and Kadazan heritage is pretty cool too… therefore, they named their daughter Jaydee… which in Thai means good-hearted. Jaydee is such a sweetheart. Her smile makes you warm up instantly… I guess it helps to have super smiley parents like Terence and Devi!

This shoot was not an ordinary portrait session for us. In fact, there were 5 of us there that day – Johan, Ben, Diane, Felicia and myself. 5 photographers for a family portrait shoot? That sounds pretty crazy huh! Well, our main purpose that day was to share ideas, think outside the box, and sharpen each other’s skill while shooting.

We had heaps of fun. So here’s a combination of shots from all of us! Started out with some couple shots – image on the left taken by Johan, and on the right by Grace.

20130722_FAMILYPORTRAITS_TERENCE_DEVI_020

Below: L (Diane’s image), R (Grace’s)

20130722_FAMILYPORTRAITS_TERENCE_DEVI_036

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.

20130731_PANASONIC_GX7_30

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!

20130731_PANASONIC_GX7_22

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

20130731_PANASONIC_GX7_06

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.

20130731_PANASONIC_GX7_01

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Life, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Promotions, Relationships

July & August 2013 Portrait Promo

Someone wise told me, the only asset that is truly valuable is time. I’ve always been a person who waltzes through life, never really having any set goals, but now, as I am in my mid-30s, having been married for 7 years and as a mother of a 7 month old daughter, I realize I cannot just let life pass me by.

All the more so as I see my sick, ageing parents who are approaching their 80s. I am a little sad that my dad, with his Azheimer’s, will never know his grandchild. My mom, who suffered from stroke in the past, cannot carry my 7kg daughter in her arms.

But I am glad that I had the photos from when Krysta was a newborn, and my mom could still manage to hold her, even though it was for a short period of time.

Or those images of my family when my dad still had traces of his personality intact. (Or that video of my dad singing at my wedding… even though he had forgotten the lyrics to the song… he was just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s then).

I know that I can never turn back the clock to experience these things again. So time is truly precious to me.

Relationships matter.

That’s why we would love to help you record these memories with the most important people in your life. This July and August, book a pre-wedding or lifestyle portrait shoot with us and you’ll not only get to immortalize these moments, but enjoy a discount on our packages.

Aug2013LifestylePromo1

Do email us for a full list of our services and discounted rates. Photography must be done within the months of July and August 2013 (subject to availability). We hope to see you soon!

Aug2013PreweddingPromo