Casual Portraits

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits

Dancing Around KL City Centre

As a Canon EOS ambassador, I get to test out the new EOS R5 and a few lenses, namely the RF 15-35mm f2.8 and 85mm f2.0 macro. I contacted my friend, Joanna Koleth, who is an amazing dance-artist, and some other amazing vendors who made this shoot happen. Soon, we were doing jumps around KL city centre. This shoot is part of a bigger project, one that involves a few other photographers. But that is yet to be revealed. The theme of the shoot revolves around this word, Harmony.

When conceptualizing the shoot, I thought about this word and what it means to me. A quick Google search revealed the meaning of harmony as “the state of being in agreement or concord.” As a Malaysian, I truly desire a state where the people in our land can live in harmony with each other. Our country is full of culture and heritage, and we’ve gone through good and bad seasons since celebrating our independence in 1957.

Learning how to balance our diversity with unity is not easy. Harmony is not just an outward appearance of accepting each other, it’s respecting each individual as they are. It’s also about merging old and new mindsets so that we can grow as a nation.

It’s a delicate dance.

Sarah Lim In At Home, Casual Portraits, Musings, Portraits

What is Lifestyle Photography?

Do a Google search for a ‘family photographer’ and chances are, you’ll see lifestyle photography as a service too (that’s what we offer as well). “What’s lifestyle photography?” you might wonder. Well, this article will be addressing that. After this, you can add one more photography term to your vocabulary with confidence and clarity. Most importantly, you’ll know what it means for you!

A lifestyle photographer is someone who documents a person’s lifestyle by capturing photos of their real-life events, situations, or their milestones in an artistic manner. It celebrates the art of the everyday. Many photos you see of other families and couples having the best ‘candid’ moments captured while doing ‘everyday-looking-things’ are often categorised as lifestyle photography. A true lifestyle session is full of candid moments that happen when a photographer gets to follow their subjects to places that they frequently spend time at.

However, what really goes on behind the scenes is that there’s a highly skilled photographer directing all the shots! Many of these ‘candid moments’ don’t happen by themselves, and they may not always happen in places that are meaningful to the people in the photo. The reality is, its usually a photographer’s job to create opportunities for these moments to happen and quickly snap the photo whenever it does. Here are some examples:

Sarah Lim In At Home, Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

A Mother & Daughter Portrait Session at Home

We often get requests for family portraits where everyone dresses up and comes to our studio or we go to their homes. But once in awhile, we also get requests like this one from Allison. She invited us over for an afternoon just to capture the everyday moments that she shares with her daughter. We love how casual and laid back this set turned out, with lots of love and affection between mother and daughter. It was a real treat to follow them around the house, just capturing them in their element as they bonded over their usual activities at home… cooking, lounging by the pool, taking walks in the garden, or catching up over a glass of wine. We even managed to squeeze in a pillow fight! It’s often the simple moments shared with family that we treasure the most, and they’re also the ones that fly by the quickest. We’re so glad to be able to immortalise a few of these precious moments for Allison.

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Studio, Wedding Films & Videos, Weddings

Sustainable Weddings

Ever wondered how your wedding could affect the environment? It’s possible to do your part in protecting the earth by having a sustainable wedding! We teamed up with Association of Weddings Professionals Malaysia, EcoKnights, WWF and a group of amazing people to spread this important message through the Knot The Waste campaign in 2019.

Protecting nature is not ONE person’s responsibility. It is OURS. So tie the knot with a sustainable wedding! For yourself, and for our future generations. Here are some ways to make your wedding a sustainable one for our planet.

Sarah Lim In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Tips + Ideas

How to Style Your Family for a Photo Shoot

Family gatherings are a perfect opportunity for a photoshoot, whether its a birthday party or festive gathering. However, getting a great family photo sometimes requires a little more than just smiling at the camera. There’s some prep work involved and it’s called “styling”. You don’t have to be a professional fashion consultant to do this. In fact, it’s quite easy! Here are four ways to start having better looking photos with just a little bit of styling done right.

1. Consider your location and backdrop

If your photoshoot coincides with an event such as a birthday party or a dinner, think about how the location will look like: What colour will the wall or backdrop be where your group will be standing? Here’s a good rule of thumb you can follow:

Plain background – You can wear either plain or bright colours, and outfits with more patterns. However not everyone should be wearing prints or else the patterns might clash, making overall photo look too messy.
Busy background – It’s best to wear outfits with plain colours (no patterns) that complement the background. Eg. A green leafy background can go with full white outfits or white and khaki colours.