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Family + Children 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-73The 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.

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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!

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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!”

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A family’s day out at the park: The Suhaimi Family

It was a fun day out for the family. Shafinaz brought her parents and sister along for the shoot and we had a great time together. We even had to convince Shafinaz’s dad to put down his camera as he was being photographed instead! Before any family shoot, I send out a little questionnaire for our clients to fill. It’s a great way of getting to know the family. Some bits of fun facts:

Shafinaz’s mom (Putri) and her dad (Suhaimi) dated for 7 years and are now married for 36 years!
Shafinaz’s sister, Shaliza has 2 lovely children of Chinese-Malay parentage.
Shafinaz & her husband Henrik met through their shared passion of travel, underwater photography and scuba-diving. They dated for 6 months and got married.

What an awesome family.

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A Day in the Life: Larry & Christina

I got to know Christina through my involvement with ibu, and when I conducted a photography workshop there, she was one of the mothers who attended. Christina and her husband Larry have been living in Malaysia for a few years now, but the time has come to end that season here and return to Australia. But not without leaving with great memories, since their little son Jamie was made in Malaysia!

So I was invited to their home to capture a snippet of a day in the life of their family, amidst the ‘mess’ of packing. Since Christina’s a voice actor, you can imagine how wonderful the session went, with fun storytelling sessions coupled with dancing moves. I am glad that Christina and Larry are just so comfortable being themselves in front of the camera (with no make up and messy hair haha).

Jamie was hilarious. He showed me his fun, extroverted character and warmed to me easily. It has been a pleasure getting to know you, Christina, and I wish you all the best in this new phase of life!

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