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Family + Children Portraits

IBU Family Promotion: June 2014

201406_Ibupromo If you are an IBU family member, you can get a 15% discount off all our lifestyle photography packages this June 2014. Contact us for our rate card (starts from RM550). Here are the terms of the promo:

1. You can make a booking in June 2014 and select a shoot date before November 2014. Do quote your IBU membership number and bring along your card for verification on the shoot date.
2. 100% payment is required upon confirmation. You will also be required to fill up a booking confirmation form which needs to be emailed back to us. We look forward to hearing from you this June!

Family Portraits in Melbourne: Andrew, Jessey & Maddie

I got to know Andrew through his sister, Amy Yeoh, who is a friend from my church, DUMC. Well, thanks to Facebook, we could get connected through the years, even if it was a random viewing on a status message! After I delivered my little Krysta, Jessey connected with me on Facebook when I posted that I had some sleep issues with Krysta. She was a very helpful source of information and gave me some valuable tips to assist sleeping babies… well, sleep!

It was great that I managed to photograph their cute little family in Melbourne during my holiday there recently. They chose to have their family portraits taken at the University of Melbourne since it was where they had studied in the past. It was a gorgeous day, and we had some lovely moments together, though Maddie was adamant on demonstrating how good she was at running away from the camera!

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Krysta’s 1st Birthday Party: Little Miss Theme

It’s been half a year since my beloved daughter Krysta turned one. It really just occurred to me how fast the year goes by (especially after they turn 1). When she was a baby, I would photograph her every month, just to see her physical changes. Maybe it was more apparent then… roll over, tummy time, crawling, walking… they were very real milestones. But after she turned 1… I don’t think I made such an effort to photograph her little moments or new milestones.

Now, with baby number 2 on the way, I have an even bigger challenge… to make sure I document his life with equal passion as I did Krysta’s. Even with the pregnancy, I am really not that ‘aware’ of the progress… when people ask me how far along I am… I have to think twice before replying. And that too, is with some hesitance.

I recently wrote a blog post about my intention to make time for family despite work commitments. I really do count it a blessing when I can spend half a day here or there midweek with my daughter, just doing simple things like reading a book together or playing chase in the living room.

Anyway, here’s some really belated photos of Krysta’s first birthday with a Lil’ Miss Theme. We chose the character Little Miss Chatterbox for her. Love the detail on the cake. I designed the logo and it was beautifully translated onto the cupcakes. We made little stickers with the logo too and placed it on cups and goodie bags. About 2 weeks before the party, I managed to find the Mr Men and Little Miss themed books from the Big Bad Wolf sale at a huge discount! So that made really nice gifts for the kids who came.

The food was a selection of my favourite hawker stall foods… everything from a lok-lok van to Village Park nasi lemak, to rojak from Bayu Timor… everyone loved it.

Photos were taken by Diane, and a few by Weiming.

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Family Portraits, Melbourne, Australia: Stewart, Georgina & Patrick

Two years ago, I photographed Georgina’s family portraits in Malacca, the town where both of us grew up in. It was a lovely time with her immediate family (and nieces & nephews) – it was cuteness overload! Fast forward to 2 years later, and now, Georgina and Stewart have their own little bundle of cuteness to raise. At the time of the shoot, Patrick was just 6 months old, and learning to suck on lamb chops as I was told, most Australian kids do! (apparently the Asian side of Patrick rejected the porridge that was offered to him, much to Georgina’s disappointment).

Anyhow, I didn’t get to witness any lamb sucking activities (though that would have been epic!) but the 4 of us headed to a little park near their home in Melbourne for some family portraits. It was a beautiful day, though the week before, Melbourne was pouring! Patrick stole my heart and I ended up photographing so many images of this little one…

Enjoy the photos!

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Time and The Notion of Success

Recently, a series of events has caused me to think about life, our notion of success and what we do with our time. I came across this post by one of my favourite photographers Jasmine Star, where she talked about the notion of busyness, and how oftentimes, we equate it with success.

“Oh, you’re busy? Your business must be very successful then!”

But she pointed out in her post that rest and relaxation are equal indicators of success… that it is important to have a work-life balance and have time for friends and family members.

A week ago, Alex and I started the first of a series of parenting classes conducted by our church. In this course, we watched a DVD with real, parenting issues as brought up by Nicky and Sila, the trainers. Then we discussed these issues between us and also in a small group setting. Through this course, we were reminded that children really need to feel loved and that one of the ways of filling their emotional tank is to spend intentional time with them.

One of the pitfalls of running your own business is the need to ‘constantly’ work 24-7. There were days when Alex and I would be sitting in bed, but both still replying emails or doing some form of work. It came to a point that I thought it was really unhealthy and we needed to set aside boundaries for ourselves. How easy it is to let time slide by, just doing things that consume us at that point in time, but not really things that are truly important!

In the video for the 1st week, a dad related the story of how he used to tell bedtime stories to his daughter, but every so often, his phone would ring, and she would plead with him to just ignore it and finish the story. He would say, “This is important…” and then one phone call led to another and another, and then half an hour later, he would come back to her room with her fast asleep with the light still on and the book next to her head. But now, if you ask him, he can’t remember a single one of those calls that were ‘truly’ important, or what the content of them were.

It is really my heart’s desire to set aside time for the things that matter in life. The thing is that busyness will always be there. It will always consume us and before we know it, a day has gone by, and then a week, and then a month, or a year. If I don’t make intentional time for my family, or for friends, I’ll soon discover that all I ever did was being ‘busy’ with daily life and tasks.

To end this post, I’d just like to share a little video that Alex and I made. The journey of being a parent has been really amazing and one that we wouldn’t trade for the world. I used to think that being pregnant was a bit of a nuisance and a necessary ‘evil’, especially as a photographer. But after going through it with my first child, I realized there is no real convenient time to be pregnant. It shouldn’t be thought of as a burden, but as a gift. A beautiful gift from God.

Trailer: Krysta+Kyle from Stories on Vimeo.