Portraits

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Musings, Parties & Events, Portraits, Tips + Ideas

Zoe’s 1st Birthday Party

Styled birthday parties are the rage nowadays, and we love all the little details that go into making it such a pretty event. Two years ago, we went to New Zealand to photograph Calvin & Queenie’s wedding, and now, we’re photographing their daughter’s 1st birthday! So much love went into planning this rainbow themed, colourful party. Queenie also went as far as to coordinate her shoes with little Zoe. As a mother of 2 myself, planning parties like these are fun, but can be pretty stressful. It definitely helps if you have a planner and decorator like Mint Events & Soirées to do the bulk of the work for you!

We also photographed their family portraits the next day. I’ll share more of that in a separate blog post! I’ve included lots and lots of detail shots as inspiration for mothers who want a similar theme for their parties.

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio

Family Portraits: Andrea & Marek

I am pretty sure every Asian parent would be envious of this little kid, with her huge, gorgeous blue eyes. She looks so much like a doll and her smile can turn any blue day into a sunny, happy one. It’s days and sessions like these that keep us energised and excited. We love candid moments like these too… they are all part of the fun, and make a session memorable.

Grace Tan In Casual Portraits, Life, Musings, Portraits, Relationships

Celebration of Life: Cancer Free!

I believe that we should celebrate all stages in life, whether big or small. It could be the 1st birthday of your little one, the graduation of your child from university, or even celebrating health like being cancer free. Five years ago, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was a difficult time for the family. The future felt uncertain. My siblings and I had discussions about whether to go ahead with chemotherapy and what the next course of action would be. I still remember praying for my sister before her operation and I felt so clearly in my spirit then that the removal of the tumour would be complete and everything bad would be removed from her. I felt the peace of God just wash over me then.

Life carried on. She adopted a healthier lifestyle and everything seemed to resume to normal. It was only recently as I pondered upon it, that I realised 5 years had passed since she was cancer free. FIVE amazing years!

When I came across a friend of mine who was hand-making some amazing Breast Cancer Awareness t-shirts, I just had to ask her if I could order one from her. She did an amazing job, and gifted my entire family with not just 1, but 5 t-shirts! Thank you, Tanya Pong for your beautiful handiwork that reminds us… every woman who has ever fought breast cancer (or any form of cancer, really!) is indeed, a Wonder woman.

I think celebrating successes like these are so important. In the past, we have photographed some post-chemo clients even while they are still bald. It was a reminder to themselves that while illness is a fact of life we all have to face one day, at least for today, we can still smile, surrounded by people we love and who love us.

PS: It is always challenging executing your own family shoot when you are not behind the camera and your daughter is on grouchy mode. Thank you, Nat for helping us take these photos!

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

Family Portraits in Desa Park City: Ranjini & Rune

Rune is from Denmark and Ranjini is Malaysian. 10 years ago, they met by chance at the now defunct Bar Savahn in Heritage Row. It so happened that he was standing at Ranjini’s spot at the bar when she returned from the washroom. That was the first time she saw him and spoke because she wanted her spot back. He was happy to move a bit but stayed to keep talking. It took Rune 6 months to woo Ranjini because she was not into younger men. Rune said that he was the Danish national salsa champion (not true), and yet 5 years later they got married with the most awesome wedding! Two years after that they had Noah, and another 2 years later, Luna. We were privileged to have met this amazing family in a fun filled photo session in Desa Park City.

Grace Tan In Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Pre-Wedding at MCKL: Nicolas & Cassandra

I have to admit, I haven’t really made the time to prep many of the images that the team has shot for blog posts. As the key person who handles our social media postings, I need to buck up a bit more to get things going. Most of my time has been spent on meeting potential business partners / clients, shoots, replying emails, helping coordinate other shoots, going for my BNI meetings, and then being a mother. So now that I’ve prepped and sent my kid off to school, I have time before my next meeting for a blog post!

Nicolas & Cassandra were wed recently in August, and we are planning to share their images from their wedding on our blog soon. But I wanted to first share their casual 2 hour pre-wedding session that was photographed by Jennifer. It was a really easy going session as the shoot was held at the place where they met… Methodist College KL. I love how much laughter these 2 share between the both of them. You certainly need huge amounts of laughter and fun to carry you through life as a couple!