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Running a Business

Year-end reflections

Every year as December rolls in, I find myself slowing down, almost instinctively counting the blessings from the past 12 months. 17 years in this industry still feels surreal!

I started this journey with nothing more than heart. I was naive, lacking any form of photography or business skills, but just a desire to tell stories. I made many mistakes but learnt many lessons along the way too. Somehow, one year folded into the next, and here we are in 2025.

17 years as a photographer and business owner

I used to remember every client’s name and face in the early years. These days, after thousands of portraits, the details blur a little (could be perimenopause too!). Still, what stays with me are the seasons I’ve journeyed through with so many families. Watching little ones stretch into teenagers, seeing couples weather the years with grace, and at times, hearing about losses that break our hearts. I am reminded over and over again why photography matters.

This truth became even clearer when my aunt passed away this year at the age of 86. She lived alone in Melaka as a single person, and my family were the closest relatives since the rest live overseas. One moment she was line dancing with her friends, the next we were facing an aggressive illness we didn’t see coming. When we put together her obituary photos, I felt grateful for every little memory we had documented as a family. In the end, these pieces of our lives become priceless.

My family with my aunt

To every client who has trusted us with your stories, thank you. Whether it is through photography or a video documentary of your life, your memories matter to us. We want you to feel joy every time you look through your photos.

This year brought fresh stories. Families with their pets, travellers exploring Malaysia, couples falling in love, and of course, one of the most memorable shoots of the year—documenting our past prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 100th birthday party.

Our team covering Tun Dr Mahathir’s 100th birthday

We also relaunched our Flight of Imagination storybook, now available in an illustrated version for younger children. If you’re looking for a meaningful gift for kids below 8, you can personalise the illustrated Flight of Imagination. Add your child’s name, choose the relevant illustration, and include two of your own family photos. It’s RM120 and makes such a sweet keepsake.

I’m also leaving you with a video from Danny and Tanya, a family we’ve walked with for many years. What they shared captures the heart of why we do what we do. If you’re thinking of a family shoot, don’t wait too long. We’re feeling extra festive and have packed Christmas Blind Box gifts worth up to RM2,000 for bookings this season. Wishing you a meaningful year-end with the people you love. I hope our paths cross again soon.

 

2024 Reflections

Each year, we strive to be better than yesterday—not just in the photos we take but in the connections we build. At Stories, excellence isn’t just about quality; it’s about creating an experience that feels warm, personal, and meaningful. However, developing personal connections can be challenging as our number of clients grow. In 2024, we photographed 274 personal events and portrait sessions, and the year hasn’t even ended yet. This is a milestone we are so proud of!

One way we nurture these connections is through community events. This year, we hosted the Family Rhythm Father’s Day event, participated in Nurts Day, and joined the Ibu Family and Private International School fair. These moments remind us that our work goes beyond photos; it’s about celebrating relationships and creating memories together.

Looking ahead to 2025, our hope is to deepen these relationships even further. We’re challenging ourselves to grow creatively, improve our service quality, and enhance efficiency—all while staying true to what makes Stories special.

That also means evolving with our clients’ needs. While we’ve been blessed to welcome so many families into our studio, we recognize the need to reconnect with the wedding industry. It’s a question we often ask ourselves: How do we remain relevant to our clients as trends change?

As new creatives join the Stories team each year, we constantly ask ourselves, “How do we maintain a consistent, exceptional brand experience while allowing space for fresh ideas to shine?” By encouraging open discussion amongst team members, we find ourselves in a space where we are never allowed to be comfortable for too long. We disrupt ourselves again and again, pushing ourselves towards a higher standard, year after year.   

The encouragement we’ve received keeps us inspired. With 137 five-star Google reviews and 72 Facebook recommendations, we’re reminded that the work we do matters to you—and that’s everything to us.

If you have been a client of ours, please send us a message to share your experiences with Stories. Your words not only keep us going but help us grow. Thank you for trusting us with your moments—here’s to creating even more moments together!

Retouching: What kind of editing do we do?

If you’ve ever wondered why photographers can’t send your photos instantly right after the shoot, this is because the photos need to go through a few processes before reaching their final result! When we shoot, we shoot in a format called RAW, which is not suitable for general use. So first, after the photo shoot is completed, our photographer will transfer the photos to the computer and select the best ones. Next, it gets transferred to an editing software, where our editor would do a basic colour correction on every photo and then export it in JPEG format. We often have clients ask, What do we mean by basic colour correction? Does it include removing pimples, wrinkles, eyebags, etc… Unfortunately, these requests fall under extra editing requests, as they require a longer time and effort to edit. If we do this for every photo, you may not receive your photos within the promised timeline!

Basic Colour Correction

Colours in RAW format are usually lifeless-looking, but it is still the best format to further process in post production. So it’s absolutely a must that we bring some life to the photos! A basic colour correction is essentially adding and balancing out the brightness, colours (saturation), colour temperature, highlights, and shadows of the photos as well as cropping out excessive backgrounds to make the images look more centred. A few toggles here and there will instantly make your photos look more vibrant and captivating!

Have a look at the before (left) and after (right) samples here!

Extra Editing

We do offer extra editing services for those who wish to have a “picture-perfect” photograph. This service usually comes FOC when you order framed prints and albums with us. Alternatively, you can add on this service for your favourite selection of images at a minimal additional fee.

Extra editing includes:

  • Skin smoothening
  • Removing skin blemishes
  • Minimizing eyebags/dark circles
  • Minimizing wrinkles
  • Removing flyaway hair
  • Removing any background distractions
  • Removing any scars/wounds
  • Face/Body slimming
  • Minimizing double chins
  • Whitening teeth
  • Make-up retouch (add blush, lipstick, etc)
  • Minimizing creases on clothes

We hope this helps to clarify our editing services. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any more questions!

 

 

2023 Year End Reflections

We don’t remember days, we remember moments.

This quote is at the forefront of our Stories’ Lifestyle website and is one that speaks deeply to our team. At the core of it, our job has been to immortalise your happy moments through photographs and videos. This year we went beyond that by engaging with community and creating experiences for families to make new and unique memories together.

Here’s some of the moments we remember from this year!

Engaging with community at the Ibu and Makchic Events

We were happy to be invited to both events held by Ibu and Makchic this year, two organisations whose work we love dearly. At the events we created a mobile studio setup and took complimentary family photos. It was really nice to be able to give the event goers a little momento to bring home with them and to give some families who may not have stepped into a studio a chance for a professionally taken family photo!

Father’s Day Beach Adventure

We worked with educational program organiser Mad About Education (“MAE”) to create a unique Father’s Day experience where families spent a morning in Pantai Kelanang where we engaged in some play activities, explored mangroves and of course, took family photos! The event was such a success we got requests for similar experiences immediately. (Psst.. we’re in the midst of planning more of these, so stay tuned!)



The Flight of Imagination

And finally.. our proudest creation of the year! I’m sure you’ve heard of personalised children’s book where the text is changed to reflect the child’s name. Together with the team at Makchic, author Kimberly Lee and illustrator Munsya Rahman, we created a one of its kind personalised photo storybook experience where not only are the names personalised, so are the pictures in the book – replaced with photos of your own family. The process in taking the photos and having them be a part of a book, not to mentioned to actual unboxing and seeing your images will be an experience your family will treasure forever!

Looking back, we are so proud to have all of you along for the ride as we continue to create memories worth making. We look forward to seeing all of you again in 2024!

Oh! Don’t miss out on the promotion we’re running for The Flight of Imagination Book Experience! Click on the button below to find out more.

Take me to The Flight of Imagination

Our founder, Grace Tan, has also written a year-end reflection on our business website. Do check it out here!

Living your dream life

The way ahead looked murky. It was 2008, and I had just officially started my photography business. It seems like only yesterday that I bought my first second-hand camera, naive and uncertain about what I truly wanted in life. The only certainty I had was that I wanted to take beautiful images and that I wanted my life to make a difference in other people’s lives.

Somehow, I stumbled into the world of weddings, and that journey took me to beautiful locations all over the world across different continents, including amazing journeys in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Holland. I ended up capturing so many memories that remain as fresh in my mind as they are in my clients minds. I saw these couples grow into small families and their relationships strengthen, and I continued the journey alongside them through the years. Why am I sharing this story with you?

You see, the 15-year anniversary of Stories had a humble beginning. It started with a small dream. A little girl who was terrified but made a decision to be brave and step out of her comfort zone. Despite her insecurities and weaknesses, she decided that nothing would be too hard if God was by her side.

That girl 15 years ago would never have imagined owning a studio and working with eight other talented creatives on meaningful and purposeful projects. She would never have imagined that she had the capacity to hire people, inspire them to chase after their own dreams, and create life-changing work.

But she did. That little girl is me.

Success to me isn’t just about the numbers on an Excel sheet; it’s also about how many lives I’ve impacted. To the people I have photographed, I am a legacy builder. I help connect people to an experience with their loved ones that they will remember forever.

To the people I have hired, I am a dream-maker. So many of the people who have worked with me over the years did not start out skilled. They were like me—someone with a dream. I am so blessed that I have been able to be part of their story too.

What about you? Do you have a dream too? What would it take for you to be brave and step out?

You have one life. Why not spend it doing what inspires you, grows you and has an impact on the world around you?