Portraits

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Portraits

MadWorld photo shoot teasers

This has got to be one of my most challenging shoots creatively this year. And it’s all worth it. If you look at these teaser images, you would hardly think that these images are for a Christmas production. Where’s all the bells, smiley faces, red and green colour themes?

This year’s Christmas performance, produced by DUMC and SIB KL is definitely not your ordinary Christmas play. Titled MadWorld, it’s a combination of creative dance and beautiful singing, in a story centred around 4 main characters, Lucas, Adam, Pearly & Sinister.

This photo shoot is for MadWorld’s promotional materials – posters, program booklet, the works. I had 50 people to photograph in one day and in a stylistic way. The day before, my team who consists of Alex, Yih Wen & Weiming went to KL to source for broken or old looking furniture. The doors were brought in by them. So proud of my props and lighting team.

The make up & styling is incredible too. After many discussions with various people, the look was finalized. Main make up person is Joy Chong, overall styling by Kenny Shim.

I have heaps of photos to share with everyone, but they will have to come later… here are a few to whet your appetite!

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding: Derrick & Wan Leng

Photographer: Grace
Make up & hair: Sharon from Wedding Isle
Bridal Gown: Pretty in White
Evening Gown: Red Lantern Studio
Location: Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Love, like wine, should get better with age. It should be savoured bit by bit and with every sip, cherished.

Even though Wan Leng has been together with Derrick for almost a decade, just like aged wine, their love tastes sweeter and better than ever. When she first met him, she thought that he was kind of cute; if there was Facebook back then, she would have clicked “LIKE” immediately. After Wan Leng’s first encounter with Derrick, she could not stop thinking about him… and now, a decade later, she still can’t stop thinking about him!

The feeling was mutual, because when Derrick first saw Wan Leng, he thought that she was attractive beyond words yet she had this aura of mystery that made him want to know her more. They met at a social function and since then their friendship blossomed through different modes of communication.

Derrick: “Usually my first impressions of a person are spot on, and my first impression of her was that she had a special inner & outer beauty bottled into one. Although the first impression counts for something, I believe that lasting impression is above all, and I hope to give her the best lasting impression a man could ever give.”

Wan Leng: “Sometimes I still can’t believe that I ended up with him and *gasp* I’m getting married to him! :) And I’m very excited!”

I’m excited for the both of you too!

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits: Lee, Cyndi, Russell & Owen

My relationship with the Fang family started years ago through my sister’s friendship with Sara. I photographed Sara’s extended family years ago, and more recently, her immediate family. And now, Sara’s sister – Cyndi’s family. I just love the way the world works and how one thing just leads to another.

Lee and Cyndi are really cool people. Of course, so are their sons Russell & Owen. They are the kind of family that does things together – like making your own mooncake festival lantern from scratch. By their conversations, you know that Lee & Cyndi have a deep friendship with their children; they speak about anything under the sun. Even though Russell’s PMR exams are just around the corner, he wasn’t cooped up in the room 24 hours 7 days a week… he was out taking his family portraits. :)

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Teasers: Cafe themed pre-wedding shoots

We’ve seen it all before. In movies, where couples fall in love over a meal, sharing drinks, enjoying each other’s company till the wee hours of the morning. Chatting about everything and anything under the sun, oblivious to others around them. I love the notion of falling in love doing something as simple as sharing a meal. In my recent pre-wedding shoots, I photographed 2 couples, different yet similar in so many ways.

A Chinese coffee shop vs an Italian cafe. Kopi peng vs wine.

But over this meal, romance blossoms and hearts pound in anticipation of the next date.

Note: The first image has been replaced due to various reasons. The full blog post will come later!

Grace Tan In Boudoir, Casual Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Lights, Boudoir, Action!

I recently did another boudoir photography shoot, this time completely in the studio. It challenged my creativity because I had to constantly think of new poses for my client. You wouldn’t have thought that the background to this shot was anything but black in real life right? In fact, the background was grey. I used two flashes to create the look and to reduce all ambient light around my subject.

In the past, I used to shun away from using flash for my photography work. It is a scary thing that is hard to control. But once you begin to understand it, light is a fun thing to play around with. I am still learning and improving my skills over time. I know that there are flaws to this image, but overall, I am rather pleased with it.