Family + Children Portraits

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Musings, Portraits

Family Portraits: Terence, Devi & Jaydee

I’ve known Terence and Devi for over 10 years, since I was a university student in Brisbane. They are 2 very cool individuals – Terence’s grin and laughter (plus silly jokes) is pretty infectious (though I sometimes admit I roll my eyes occasionally), while Devi’s warm, calm and pleasant personality makes you feel as if you’ve been her friend for umpteen years (even though you might have met her for only 15 minutes).

Devi’s Thai and Kadazan heritage is pretty cool too… therefore, they named their daughter Jaydee… which in Thai means good-hearted. Jaydee is such a sweetheart. Her smile makes you warm up instantly… I guess it helps to have super smiley parents like Terence and Devi!

This shoot was not an ordinary portrait session for us. In fact, there were 5 of us there that day – Johan, Ben, Diane, Felicia and myself. 5 photographers for a family portrait shoot? That sounds pretty crazy huh! Well, our main purpose that day was to share ideas, think outside the box, and sharpen each other’s skill while shooting.

We had heaps of fun. So here’s a combination of shots from all of us! Started out with some couple shots – image on the left taken by Johan, and on the right by Grace.

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Below: L (Diane’s image), R (Grace’s)

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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Tears and Giggles: Danny, Tanya, Dylan and Jamie

It happens at every family photo shoot that involves babies and toddlers. The crying, I mean. And the chuckles. With kids, everything is so unpredictable. One moment, they are laughing, and the next, they are bawling their eyes out, as if you’ve just handed them a life-long sentence of “no playgrounds till you smile at the camera!”. It’s normal. Really.

So parents, don’t get flustered when your kids are crying and refusing to smile at the camera. At the end of the day, we’re there to have fun, play some games and photograph moments as a family. When you’re stressed, the kids sense it and they will be even more unlikely to suddenly break out into a smile.

So, if you’re expecting smiley photos at our shoots, well… it takes hard work to get there… but in the process, we go through ups and downs. After our one hour together, you might even have shed a few pounds!

Tanya and Danny, the both of you are troopers! Though Dylan and Jamie had their moments, everything went well in the end! I look forward to more shoots in the future with your family!

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

Cherished Moments & The Hui Family

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One of the most cherished items I have in my house are the canvas prints of my family photos, hung beautifully on the wall of my living room. The photos were taken at various locations and at different times. But I remember each moment as if it was just yesterday. Recently, I started a wall of photos for my little girl, Krysta. Later, I hope to build a staircase filled of memories from various family events… some images could be as simple and routine as a meal at our dinner table.

Compared to our parent’s years when you’d only be taking photos at special events (film was expensive and not everyone owned a camera!)… images now flood every single moment of our life. I know of friends who would shoot burst mode on their phone cameras to capture that one moment where their kid is smiling at the camera. Unfortunately, those images stay in their phone (and the blur ones, if they are like me… sometimes NEVER get deleted… until, you are left with no choice when one day your phone tells you that you are running out of space).

But even with image technology getting better and better over time, it’s pretty rare that a family gets together for professional portraits (How often have I heard of comments by moms who say… The husband is behind the camera…somewhere!). And I know what it’s like to have your photo taken by Mr Tripod. It’s pretty dull and uninspiring.

So I do hope that we will have the honour of photographing your family and building your wall of memories. May each image be a small piece of the puzzle which tells a story of your life.

Recently, we photographed the Hui family. Mark and Mun Tzin are dear friends of ours. Mark is one of our resident photographer and Mun Tzin is an efficient and creative event planner, running her brand Milestones. Here’s a little story about her family.

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Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Life, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Promotions, Relationships

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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Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, For Photographers, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits, Running a Business, Tips + Ideas

Bloom Workshops #3: Portraits in Penang

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Bloom Workshops is back once again this year for another round of teaching, learning and absorbing all sorts of photography goodness from each other! We ran 2 successful workshops last year – the first was themed “Empowering Female Photographers” and the second, “From Passion to Skill”. This time, we’re headed to the beautiful island of Penang for some inspiring time with each other. You don’t have to be a pro-photographer to attend, as long as you have an interest in photography, this workshop is for you. It’s open to both male and female participants (yes, people do ask!).

The early bird registrations end by 1st of July, but if you do manage to gather a group of 2 other friends who are interested, you can still enjoy the rate of RM1,100 as long as you register before the 9th of August 2013. Three days of goodness together!

The main topics you’ll be learning will be about posing and lighting. We will teach you all sorts of skills on posing couples, plus-sized people, couples with height differences, large groups, families, children and more! One of the practical session involves a trip to the beach and we’ll learn how to do shots like these:

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You’ll also learn how to pose large groups like these:

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