Family + Children Portraits

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Maternity, Musings, Newborn, Portraits

Documenting Ethan’s Water Birth

I must admit that the thought of seeing a woman going through labour and finally delivering her baby scares me. A little. Even though I have 2 kids of my own… but I went through c-section and I never really experienced childbirth the way it was meant to be…. natural and painful. So I was a mix of emotions when Crystal hired me to document the birth of her baby Ethan last month. I was a tad bit worried that I might pass out when I saw blood.

The whole experience was new to me. About a year ago, I was also supposed to photograph another birth, but that didn’t quite happen the way we expected (pun not intended!). When Crystal’s delivery date drew near (18th May) and she started having contractions, I was a bit of a nervous wreck! I would check my phone frequently for updates, and was all charged to head out to the hospital when needed. On Thursday night, she checked into Pantai Hospital but by Friday evening, she was still far from delivering her baby!

That Friday night, I went to watch a movie, and even lugged my camera gear into the cinema, just in case! Crystal really suffered through hours of labour, and it was only on Sat night (11pm) that I was called into the hospital. I must say, she is one tough cookie. With no painkillers, she laboured and delivered beautiful baby Ethan at 3am on the 22nd of May. I could see how supportive her husband Wei Leong was through the entire process. Even though it was pretty back-breaking to help support Crystal in the tub, he did it over many hours with occasional stretches. I think Crystal was in the tub for a good 7 hours!

When Ethan came out, there was a sigh of relief and lots of happy smiles around.

Overall, I am just so amazed at this miracle called birth. How wonderful it is to witness a human being coming into the world. It is just so beautiful.

20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-060 20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-061 20160522-BIRTH_ETHAN_CHEW-071 Extra interesting notes:
1. Lighting was extremely difficult in the dim room, since they wanted to create a more relaxing and conducive environment. Flash photography wasn’t allowed and occasionally a spotlight would be turned on at times – so thank God for high ISO and experience shooting in low light!

2. The little floating duck is a thermometer! How cool is that. It was the first thing I spotted when I arrived.

3. The nurse and doula was in the room all the time, monitoring the contractions, keeping Crystal warm by pouring water on her. Dr Paul came in towards the end to receive the baby. I truly respect those in this profession, their personal lives are dictated by the lives of others!

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Parties & Events, Portraits

Twins and a Cake Smashing Session

Collin and Casper are twins who are as different as night is from day. Collin is very attentive, loves games, looks pretty serious and more quiet compared to Casper. Casper, on the other hand, is so playful, he can’t keep still for a few seconds! He has a cheeky smile and likes to act cute! But on the day of our shoot, the twins were just recovering from the flu bug. Despite that, I am glad that I managed to get cheeky shots of Collin and Casper. We started off the day at the Botanical Gardens (a little challenging with the hoards of people there and the humid Singaporean weather!). Then thankfully, we moved back into an air-conditioned environment at the suite of St Regis, Singapore. It was such a lovely place that we had to explore every corner, including the gigantic bath tub!

Lastly, we had an extremely successful cake smashing session for their birthday (the actual birthday cake was safe). It was my pleasure photographing my childhood friend, Patricia’s family. We have come a long way from playing with Barbie dolls in Malacca. May your beautiful family continue to grow!

20160416-COLLIN_CASPER_ONE-233 “Oh my brother gives me a headache!”

20160416-COLLIN_CASPER_ONE-095 20160416-COLLIN_CASPER_ONE-072 Collin on the left and Casper on the right

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Newborn, Portraits

Newborn Portraits: Matthew

My friendship with Mark and Mun Tzin has spanned many years, ever since Mark became one of the first freelance photographers to work with me when I was just starting out in the industry. Then I got to know Mun Tzin… who became a colleague as she planned weddings and events under the banner of Milestones. I am really pleased to see how their little family has grown, with baby Matthew now. He was only 13 days old when we took these photos.

20160513-NEWBORN_MATTHEW-73 The story of Matthew, by Mun Tzin

When I first started Milestones in 2012, we decided to put having a kid on hold so that the business can stabilise and we are not bogged down with too many things. As Milestones progress and after two years into running the business, I was open to trying to have a kid. We have been trying for a year and it was after a year, we were thinking of getting ourselves check by a specialist to make sure everything is working fine. Stress was kind of building up as Mark’s parents knew that we were trying to have a kid of our own. Little did we know that God has his own timing and plan for everything. In Mid September 2015, I was planning for a scuba diving trip and wanted to make sure that I was not pregnant before I go for the trip. It was then I discovered that I could be possibly pregnant. From being super kiasu by peeing on 3 pregnancy test to getting blood test to confirm, we were still not certain till we met our doctor. It was at the doctor’s clinic that he confirmed that we were going to have a baby. At that time, we were still fearful as we wanted to see our child’s heartbeat to confirm that he is alive. It was only after seeing and hearing his heartbeat the first time, were we able to celebrate God’s goodness to us.

From an easy pregnancy with minimal morning sickness to having minimal aches and pain, God has indeed watched over our family. Two weeks before I was due, Mark had to fly to Jakarta for work and I was supposed to travel to Genting Highlands for work too. In the beginning of the week, I fell ill and stayed at home. On the same week Thursday morning, I suddenly felt painful contractions while driving to work so instead of driving to work, I drove home to pick up my hospital bag and drove to the hospital. Doctor says this might be it and I quickly contacted Mark to come home. Little did we know that this was a false alarm and God was preparing us slowly for the real thing. Throughout the weekend and the following week, I kept having contractions and feeling uncomfortable. We kept asking our son when will he decide to come out and meet us.

On a bright and early labour day, I felt contractions at 6am. Thinking it might be a false alarm again, I decided to wait for another 2 hours before waking Mark up to head to the hospital. Upon arrival at 9am, I was immediately admitted to the hospital. From the time I was admitted to the delivery time, God made it so quick that I delivered our son before 12 noon. When we first laid eyes on our son, all our cares and worry was forgotten and we had so much love for him. Our son is indeed a gift from God in His own perfect timing. Matthew has been relatively easy to take care and we as new parents are learning from him each day. If we can love our son who is only a couple days old so much, how much more does our God loves us. We are very thankful to God for giving us the opportunity to be parents to Matthew.

20160513-NEWBORN_MATTHEW-36 Continue Reading

Jamie Ang In Beautiful Everyday, Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Raising Boys: Jon & Jeanine

I have known Jon and Jeanine for a few years now, and I never would have imagined them to be the parents they are today. I am not a parent myself, but I did grow up with three brothers, so I had a rough idea about the chaos that goes on at home. Spending one afternoon with them, however, gave me the perspective of what happens on the parents’ side.

From the time we arrived home after lunch, I could see Jeanine juggling between entertaining the kids, and well, me. It took Jeanine 3 hours from playing with the boys, giving them a shower, ushering everyone in for some posed family shots, feeding them and finally, putting them to sleep (Jon had to attend to some work). During the short period of rest when the home was quiet, Jeanine patiently and selflessly sat down and caught up with me over a cup of tea. I knew in a couple of hours, she would have to go through the same cycle all over again. Yet, she never complained, not once. In fact, following her motherhood journey on Instagram (and blog) constantly reminds me to be grateful towards the little things in life and to always show grace to others. Being a stay-home mum has a lot of struggles, but Jeanine chooses to see and celebrate the joy in it.

So, to all the working mums, stay-home mums and single mums: Thank you for your sacrificial and unconditional love. Without you, we won’t be who are we are today! Wishing all the mothers a very (belated, but) happy mother’s day!

JonJeanine_01 JonJeanine_05 JonJeanine_06 Continue Reading

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio, Testimonials

Studio family portraits: Nicholas & Sophie

Every now and then two cute little munchkins like Lucas and Chiara would come along, and then we’d get gorgeous family portraits like the one below! Our natural light studio feels like a home, and so we get casual looking photos for the families that come through our doors. This session was photographed by Jamie.

Sophie says.. “We had booked a 1-hour studio photo shoot with Stories for family portraits, which is quite a challenge when you have two untamed little gangsters as part of the family, and when both parents are camera-shy! The photo shoot studio is very pleasant with lots of natural light – it feels a bit like home. The Stories team was great, easy-going, putting us at ease, adapting to the dynamics of the family and most importantly…we had fun! The photos are beautiful and we keep good memories of this photo session. An experience to renew, definitely!”

20151211_FAMILY_NICOLAS_SOPHIE_002 Continue Reading