Portraits

Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits, Studio, Testimonials

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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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

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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Grace Tan In Family + Children Portraits, Portraits

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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Grace Tan In Beautiful Everyday, Casual Portraits, Family + Children Portraits, Life, Maternity, Musings, Portraits, Studio

Highlights: Family Portraits 2015

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~ Robert Brault

Each of us only has 24 hours in a day. When I first started my business, I was grateful for the extra ‘time’ that I could have for myself, and then when I had kids, I wondered where all that time went! Each day, I am surrounded by news of disaster, and how easy it is to lose someone you love. Ironically, when I have time with my kids, I just wish they would fall asleep faster, and when I am away shooting a wedding at a beautiful destination, I wish I could be back with them.

I also want to do more in life, but when I have time on my hands, I just want to laze and not do anything.

Such is the irony of life. And then, before you know it, time just slips through your fingers and then a week passes by, and then a month, and a year. Just recently, on Sunday, I sat down with my husband Alex at a random cafe in PJ to talk about life (without the kids!). It felt like a breath of fresh air. We ordered fries, tea and coffee, then flipped our mac screen open to look at our February calendar and intentionally planned date nights, family nights with the kids, swimming sessions etc! We left that cafe a little more rejuvenated, and a bit more focused with what we wanted to achieve in our life as a family.

So, as a pause… here’s a little compilation we did of some of the 101 families we photographed last year. We hope you will take a moment to cherish your family today.

Photography by Grace, Diane, Jamie & Weiming

Grace Tan In International, Portraits, Pre-Wedding & Engagement Portraits

Bali Pre-Wedding: Ken & Regina

Since we’re on this series of posts about international shoots, here’s another that was done in Bali with Ken and Regina. This is one amazing couple that we’ve had the privilege of knowing. They are really friendly, thoughtful and kind. (anyone who gives us cupcakes after their wedding is on our best friends list. Haha we’re that easy to bribe). Well, they recently tied the knot in Dec and we’re sooo happy for them. Thank you for an adventure in Bali… lots of love to the both of you!

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