Family + Children Portraits

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

Hari Raya with the Naza Family

I was honoured that an old friend had recommended me to Datuk Wira SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin, who was looking for a family portrait photographer during the Raya holidays. It was wonderful meeting the entire family behind the Naza Group of companies, including Marion Caunter. Donned in festive clothes too, I tried my best to look good setting up lights while wearing a kebaya. :)

Everyone looked really smart in their baju Raya and the kids were just too cute. Here’s the large family portrait that was set up in 5 minutes. As one of the siblings, Nadia mentioned on her Instagram account, “There’s a whole troop of nannies behind this shot”… and may I add, taking photos for the family with their mobile phones! I wish we had taken a behind the scene shot of that!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Kelvin, Jamie and a sleepy baby

In a family portrait session, everything rarely ever goes according to plan. Sometimes babies will bawl their heads out, refuse to smile (even when parents insist they are super smiley babies) or in the case of Kelvin and Jamie, their baby boy Tristan fell asleep halfway through the shoot! I guess we were kind of boring to him! Well, the shoot had to carry on, so awake or not, we took photos of the little sleepy head. Thankfully, after his 10 minute power nap, Tristan woke up all cheerful and ready to face the day.

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Shichi-go-san celebration for a Japanese family: Yohei & Fumiko

Yohei and Fumiko have been living in Malaysia for the past 2 years ever since they moved here from Japan. In 2014, we photographed their family for the first time, and now, it’s really lovely to see their children all grown up!

Their son Shotaro is going to be 5 years old in May and the main purpose of the shoot is to celebrate his anniversary. According to Fumiko, Shichi-go-san, which means seven, five and three, is a Japanese annual event to celebrate healthy growth and the hope of longevity for three and seven-year-old daughters, and three and five-year-old sons. So Shotaro turning 5 is a special occasion for their family and they wish to remember this moment by having nice photos taken.

What a great idea!

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships

Happy 4th Father’s Day

This morning, I woke up in bed, 73km away from home at a town called Port Dickson, body still sore from last night’s wedding shoot. I thought of my kids at home, being cared for by my Indonesian helper the night before as my husband is away in New Zealand, setting up the Integricity NZ office. I drove home, packed my kids to church single handedly and was reminded about how much Alex is missed this Father’s day.

I cannot imagine life as a working single parent, and I take my hats off to those moms who had to fill the role of a mother and father to their kids because of various circumstances, or vice versa. Having a father figure is so important to every child. I am so glad that Alex is the kind of man who takes time to do simple things with our children, whether it is baking a cake, painting some eggshells, reading books to my son so that he can potty train him at the same time or carrying them on his shoulders when they are tired.

He is the kind of man who would gladly step up and help a friend in need, one who is generous and a person who truly cares. I hope our children will catch these traits from their dad as they grow up. We miss you, dad this Father’s day. Come home soon.

20150404_KRYSTA_KYLE_313 Baking a cake

20150405_KRYSTA_KYLE_345 Creating a mural on the wall for Krysta’s room

Alex_swimming-kids2 20151229-FAMILYHOLIDAY_AVILION-74 Enjoying father-son time in Port Dickson

20160507-HOLIDAY_JAPAN-066 Planning the Kyoto itinerary with Kyle

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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!