Musings

Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships, Running a Business

Onward, preggie mummy!

* Credit goes to my hubby, Alex Lam for taking this photo of me. Of course, with a little guidance from the ‘bossy lady photographer’!

It’s now the 18th week of my pregnancy, and I must say, it’s been a good 4 months so far. Initially, I was really worried about how my body would fare, balancing pregnancy and photography. I am happy to report that I pretty much breezed through my 1st trimester…

I only had minimal bouts of nausea. The top 2 things that would trigger my nausea were the floor detergent used in my studio and the restaurant cooking steamboat downstairs from the studio.
I only vomited four times in my first trimester. And the toilet was not too far away too! Yay!
I didn’t have any cravings. Unfortunately, this meant that I deprived Alex of the privilege of buying roti canai for me at 3am in the morning. Oh wait, I did have a craving once. I insisted on having a Peranakan Itik Tim soup for lunch one day.
My taste buds did change though. Everything I ate tasted too salty or sweet. Until… I passed that phase and wondered why every dish my father-in-law cooked tasted bland.
I didn’t feel overly fatigued, though I did sleep slightly more than usual.
Finally, I had to buy new bras & clothes, but hey, who’s complaining when it comes to shopping!

Thankfully, I managed to get through all my shoots for the 1st trimester without fainting in exhaustion. It was great to hear feedback from my clients too, when they said things like…

“Grace, even though you are pregnant.. and assigned us a third photographer, we felt that it is very professional of you to help us capturing all the great moments of the day and all the hard work that you put in making that day unforgettable for us. We were sort of a little worry for you as you trying so hard capturing some of the great moments for us in the church. Make sure you take it slow in your upcoming photo shooting..

We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for providing us with such beautiful memorabilia of our most precious day of our lives, erm.. even though we didn’t have a chance to glance through our photos yet… and every one is asking for it already!!!!”

– Amy & Enoch –

“Dear grace and team, thank you for those wonderful n absolutely gorgeous pics (ourselves included)! :) When we first met u, we were indeed taken back by ur TnCs (have to say v onerous :) ) but we saw what u can do and glad to say that we couldn’t be happier. So thank u for you and ur team’s profesionalism (ur pregnancy didn’t hamper ur ability, the mozzy didn’t affect ur team s spirit (mostly ours…hehe)..thanks!”

– Wilson & Elaine –

So now that it’s the 2nd trimester, people tell me that it’s the ‘honeymoon’ stage of pregnancy. I would feel healthier, stronger and better. The months pass by so quickly. I am indeed cherishing every moment of my pregnancy!

Diane In Musings, Tips + Ideas

How to Make a DIY Photo Holder

Family is a big thing for us at Stories and quality time with family is something that we want to keep advocating. Sometimes, this can mean doing a simple and fun activity together! Here’s an oldie but a goodie: try making your own photo holder to show off your photos! It makes a great decoration item in the house or a gift for someone.

This literally rocks! ;)

Grace Tan In For Photographers, Musings, News, Running a Business, Tips + Ideas

Bloom Workshops #2: From Passion to Skill

Bloom Promo
We are really excited to announce a new photography workshop coming up this 31st August till 1st September 2012, called “From Passion to Skill”! Earlier this year, we had our inaugural Bloom Workshops titled “Empowering Female Photographers” and it was a huge success. Frankly, organizing a workshop like this is HARD work.

Together with the pregnancy, I wonder if I am killing myself by doing too many things this year. I hear lots of advice telling me to ‘slow down’ but I think it’s part of my DNA to keep on going! (Interestingly, last week, at the wedding I was photographing, I got lectured by the grandmother of the bride… telling me to be careful since I am pregnant! Coincidentally, during the same wedding, the banquet manager noticed too and he offered me a chair. How sweet!)

The good thing is… I have a holiday scheduled for next week! The unfortunate thing is that… it was meant to be a diving trip at Sipadan island (one of the world’s top diving sites!) but now, I can only snorkel. Anyhow, I am not complaining.

Well, back to the workshop. I hope that all our hard work will really benefit someone out there. Actually, the 30 participants that we hope to get. The four of us share our hearts out at these workshops, and we give everyone 100% of our attention and energy, as much as we can. So I look forward to seeing familiar and new faces at the upcoming Bloom Workshops. Good thing is, while the previous workshop was only targeted towards females, this one is now open to everyone!

Have a look at the previous workshop and what we achieved in 2 days. Thank you, Weiming for shooting and editing the video!

[FMP poster=”http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/videos/BLOOM_HIGHLIGHTS.jpg” width=”672″ height=”368″]http://www.stories.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/videos/BLOOM_HIGHLIGHTS.mp4[/FMP]

Diane In Musings, Tips + Ideas

Picture-perfect Family Portraits

I am a big fan of having a good family photo taken. Having done some for Stories recently I’ve learnt that good family portraits takes some preparation. While the photographers worry about how to make you and your family look good, here’s some ideas and suggestions on how you can make the experience better.

1. Complement each other clothing-wise

Have your family members dress in clothes that complement each other, like wearing white tops. It doesn’t have to be of the same shade, but it could be in similar tones. If you don’t fancy the idea of being ‘too coordinated’, then we suggest wearing complementary colours, for example, earth tones (includes white, beige, green, yellow), or shades of blue. All-black outfits look a little too formal, so unless you’re going for that look (or an Addams family look), then we recommend staying away from that colour.

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Grace Tan In Life, Musings, Relationships

Moving to the next stage of life…

In some ways, I can’t believe it’s happened. We were open to it, but the odds were against us, and yet, God made it happen.

I’ll officially be able to wear a “I’m a mum t-shirt” this December 2012.

Our little one’s 2nd baby photo ever! Even if it was taken with an iPhone camera.

As of today (11 weeks), the foetus is only 4.31cm long. I’ve learnt so much these past few weeks. Like, did you know, at just 10 weeks old (about 3cm), the little baby has developed all of his/her vital organs like the kidneys, intestines, brain, liver, and other things like fuzzy hair is beginning to grow on the skin – even tiny fingers, toes and NAILS are being formed! At only 3cm long too! Some grapes are longer than that. I am just amazed at how wonderful this fact is, and how God truly creates miracles.

Truthfully, when I discovered about the pregnancy, there was joy mixed with anxiety. I couldn’t help but think about all my clients whose weddings I am due to shoot for 2012. What will they think? Will they be really upset with me? I suppose there’s a part of me that wants to please people all the time, though I know that you can never make everyone happy. I began to feel a little sad for the weddings I knew I just couldn’t shoot. At the same time, I knew that I have to let my life run its course. I can’t just put my life on hold for the sake of my clients. If it doesn’t happen this year, it might be next year.

When I told my close friends and family members about the pregnancy, they started to worry, “You need to slow down, don’t do too many shoots. Do you know it’s easy to get a miscarriage in the first trimester?”

Call me ambitious, but I still hope to shoot till the end of November.

Of course, I don’t do it foolishly, so I’ve made some plans. With much fear and trembling, I emailed all my clients to tell them about the news. I made sure I assigned a 3rd photographer for each wedding, at no extra cost to my clients, as a backup in case I only have the energy for half a day’s shoot. I gave them the option to have my other photographers shoot their wedding instead, in case they prefer to not have a pregnant woman prancing around on their wedding day.

Amazingly, almost everyone reacted positively to my email. I am blessed with great clients. They were totally understanding (though some were a little upset, but they said that my safety is top priority).

So I guess I’ll learn to adapt and life goes on.

I am excited! And yes, I have started thinking of baby names (though I don’t know the gender of the child yet!). The next few months will be challenging and yet, exciting. All I can say right now is, Thank God I don’t have morning sickness!