Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

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!

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

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Mad Men-Inspired: Pre-wedding of Jonathan & Jacinda

Honestly, I’ve not watched a single episode of Mad Men. But the images are so iconic of the 60s and styled so well that it encourages photographers all over the world to do Mad Men-inspired shoots. When Jon and Jacinda mentioned about doing a Mad Men-styled shoot, I excitedly said yes. With a few challenges ahead of me (like for example, both Jon and Jacinda are Asian, we photographed at the Westin, KL), I had to figure out how to pose and create a mood that would portray the look we wanted to achieve. Thought of some ‘parody’ shots too and discussed with Jacinda’s wedding planner Mun Tzin about the types of props that we would need.

So here’s my little take on a Mad Men-inspired shoot for Jon and Jacinda. Hope you like the images!

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Testimonials

Raw, Vintage & Classic: En Ruey & Jas Min’s Pre-Wedding

One of the things I love about my job is the ability to connect with my clients. Photographing people is such a personal task, and making them feel comfortable and look confident in front of the camera is a challenge I take to heart. Just knowing that I have managed to capture the essence of a person through my images makes me really happy. That’s how I keep going on and on, year after year, even though physically, the job is really tiring.

En Ruey and Jas Min, I am really glad that we could connect and get along so easily. I love all the random locations you brought me to, and of course, all the fun ideas you had! My two photography sessions with you and your family made me feel like long lost family members; I feel so welcomed. En Ruey, thank your mom too for the brunch after the shoot! I am looking forward to your wedding this January!

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By En Ruey (Henry): Having done a family shoot with Grace a few weeks before, I was confident the indoor shoots would go relatively well. I was however very worried for the two outdoor shoots as we didn’t opt for the usual outdoor pre-wedding locations and went guerrilla instead. One of the locations we scouted was a piece of undeveloped land full of lalang, trees and was very secluded. To make matters worse, I heard a rumor the night before that a couple and their photographer got robbed at the exact location so I was quite stressed for everyone’s safety. But it was all for naught as nothing untoward actually happened on the day of the shoot.

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The first shot of the day was a walk-by in front of some steel structures and vines with the morning sun hanging low in the background. Being directed by Grace on how to stand and where to walk while being engrossed in each other made it so easy. After taking a few shots, she walked up grinning and showed us the shot on camera and it was absolutely beautiful. To me, that really set the tone for the day and we really got into the shoot after that and went all out.

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Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Lush Love: James & Rachel’s Pre-wedding

His first few lines to her was… “Could I loan a book from you?” They were students in TAR College… young, naive and open to love and adventure. One book opened the door to a series of meet ups, and soon, college life, became… well, shall I say… a lot more interesting to James and Rachel.

In reminiscence of their many hours together in college, James and Rachel decided to photograph their pre-wedding there. Wandering the corridors, visiting their usual haunts… it brought back many fond memories for the both of them.

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As a contrast, we also shot at Sekeping Tenggiri. I love how the location is transformed into a magical forest in the shot below, taken by Weiming.

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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.

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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!

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